The Wolves of Remnant
by KemarRaijin
Summary: Tells the story of Team WOLF as they attend Beacon a year before Ruby. This tale will follow the cannon, but as it is being told from a different Team's point of view, do you really know what will happen next? Familiar faces join new ones in the halls of Beacon and beyond. Rated M for safety due to crude jokes.
1. Chapter 1: The Black Armored Wolf

**AN:** Hello! Couple of things first

Story skips, or point of view changes are show by: -x-x-x-x-

Character thoughts are bracketed [So...Deal with it.]

This is the first member of Team WOLF, and yes he does get frustrated with the team name. A wolf Faunus leading Team WOLF? He has issues with it.

* * *

Chapter 01: The Black Armored Wolf.

Warren sat in the back of the wagon and relaxed. He leaned against one of the bags filled with various goods in a vain attempt to get some rest while they traveled down the unpaved trail. His hood was pulled low over his eyes so he could try to sleep, but the trail was not as smooth as when they had first set out. Next to the bag he leaned against was large locked chest with his emblem on the lid. The maroon wolf enclosed within a crescent moon.

"Hey, uh, Mr. Warren? Sir? We should be coming into view of Glade Village shortly."

Warren stretched and grunted noncommittally in reply. "So..." The coachman glances backwards as he continues. "Why did you want to come to Glade? You didn't seem all that interested until I mentioned my destination." Warren sighed. He had the three days (and nights!) it took to travel this far and now he wants to be nosey? Well...at least he waited. If they got there soon he wouldn't be asked too many questions.

"I've heard about this retired blacksmith who lives in Glade. Apparently he used to work in...Beacon? Or was it Signal?" The young man shrugged. In the end that didn't matter too much. "Hm. Either way he was an weapon instructor, helped the students make and improve their weapons. When I heard you were heading here I figured, eh might as well tag along."

The driver chuckled before he replied, "Well thanks all the same for that. I'm not sure I would have made it on my own."

Warren mumbled too quietly for the other man to hear, "On that point, we agree." His ears flicked beneath his hood as somehow, over the sound of the wagon and horse, he heard the sound of someone on the run. The sounds grew louder as they approached. Warren stood up quickly and engaged his weapons, covered by the sleeves of his hoodie, only the claws of the gauntlet that covered and protected his fingers were visible. The driver slowed down when he noticed that Warren had stood up. Before he could ask what was wrong a person ran around the bend in the road and spotted them.

"Please tell me one of you are a huntsmen!" The driver glanced back at Warren without a hint of hesitation which prompted a sigh as War shouted back to the man. "I'm not a huntsmen, but I know a thing or two about killing Grimm! What's wrong?"

The villager hadn't stopped his dash and had reached the wagon. Warren pulled off his hoodie and opened his crate as the villager explained. "It started as a normal Grimm attack. At-at least that's what we thought! Mostly beowolves I th-think I saw a creep? But all hell broke lose when that King Taijitu showed up! We might be armed but we can't deal with something like that!" As the villager explained Warren pulled on pieces of what looked like armor. The villager finally got a good look at him and gasped. "You're a Faunus? Wait...you're him aren't you! The Black Armored Wolf!" War's ears twitched and turned his golden eyes towards the man before he pulled the helmet over his head. He pulled out his scroll and hit a few buttons. The HUD inside his armor flickered to life before a synthesized voice spoke, "Combat and Navigation Assistant, designation C.A.N.A. is online, and awaiting orders."

Warren's voice echoed out from the helm, somewhat muffled. "Cana sync systems with the War Suit. Set a timer, 5 minutes. Begin after War Suit has combat systems engaged."

"Acknowledged."

He closed the crate and jumped off the wagon. "5 minutes? You don't really think you can beat that thing in 5 minutes do you?" Warren paused and looked at the villager. After a tense moment of silence the villager gulped, with the black armor and paint pattern...this faunus almost looked like a Grimm himself. "Cana, estimated time of usage before War Suit runs out of energy using all systems?" There was a pause until the synthesized voice spoke again. "Time estimation until full aura depletion is 12 minutes and 37 seconds." The villager flinched while the driver just stared at him in shock.

"Tha-that thing runs off aura?" Instead of an answer Warren turned away and started to charge down the road. He ran slower than he'd like due to the weight of the suit, but he couldn't afford to fully activate the suit until he needed to. "Cana! Seal the suit, and bring weapon systems online. Leave all non interface systems offline...yes that does include life support, environmental controls, mobility assistance systems offline." The sections started to open and expand, until they fully covered his form in overlapping segments. "Affirmative. Primary system override accepted. Specified systems coming online now. Warning. Aura levels dropping, estimated time of depletion 74 minutes and 58 seconds. Do try to avoid taking hits, as that will skew my time estimate." Warren chuckled mainly to himself as he replied, "Acknowledged."

[...Almost 75 minutes, now if only it could be like that with all systems active…]

Cana's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Contacts." Warren ducked and rolled as a beowolf lunged for his head. As soon as his feet hit the ground he lunged after the creature and grabbed its leg from behind. It struggled briefly before he swung it over his head and brought it down into the ground slam that resounded through the air. With his fist aimed at its head, he fired a round from his wrist mounted pistol and the beast fell still. He waited until the beast started to dissolve into shadows to ensure it's demise before he turned away and-

-was swept off his feet by a giant scaled body. "CANA! Full engagement!" The entire suit lit up, as all of the systems activated. As Warren flipped in the corner of his eye on the HUD he saw a timer start to count down. The second head of the dual headed snake was pulled along with the rest of the body until it spotted the faunus. The entire creature stopped, as it seemed to contemplate why he was still alive before it lunged at him once more. He ducked and dodged as propulsion rounds fired from his left arm and leg. With a crash he landed somewhat awkwardly but when the next rounds fired and launched him forward, his posture and balance was corrected by minute adjustments performed via Cana's influence over the suit. Unfortunately as he slashed at the Grimm the creature's body dropped to the ground and his claws glanced off its scales.

He tumbled through the air and when he crashed into a tree, Warren immediately flipped and proceed to run...straight up the tree. The snake's white head coiled around the tree and started to follow him up. He stopped, turned and fired round after round at the creature's head. It hissed at him and pulled back as Warren dropped from the tree. The creature's black head struck at where he had 'stood' it's fangs sunk into the trunk of the tree. The spikes that had from the soles of his armored boots retracted as he propelled himself downwards. The white half of the snake tried to dodge, but Warren still scored a solid blow, and gouged out one of its eyes. He landed and dodged away as the monster roared and flexed. As its body was coiled around the tree it split and shattered the tree into pieces as to dropped back to the ground and hissed once more. "Cana, Enact dust coated rounds, Ice."

"Acknowledged. Warning! Ice dust reserves at 13%." Warren cursed, it has been too long since he'd be able to buy more dust. The Grimm struck and Warren braced himself as he caught the monster's fangs. The suit deployed spikes along the his feet and from the back of his legs. Pushed backwards the spikes gouged into the earth as he fired two rounds into the open maw before him. The King Taijitu tried to pull away. With a grin he braced, and held the beast in place before the spikes suddenly retracted. With nothing to hold it down, the creature's head snapped back and launched Warren into the air. He fired several more rounds, and encased parts of its body in ice to prevent its escape as he dropped. He landed harshly on top of its head which forced its skull down and crashed into the ground. He took no chances and stabbed his claws through its good eye, and proceeded to fire several rounds, inside its skull.

*beepbeepbeep*

"CANA re-set timer! Activa-" before he could finish the other head charged out from a gap between the trees and managed to close its jaws around him as it crashed into him. The armor, coated in his aura, prevented injury but he was still held within the monster's jaw. It proceeded to smash him into trees and houses as it barreled through the village. This time, Warren did not even bother with the voice commands, he accessed the suits systems and changed the dust setting to lightning before he proceed to fire, from all of his various gun ports. Lightning danced across the scales as it writhed, thrashed, and dropped Warren in the process. A quick propellent round spun him around and he landed on his feet. He looked up to aim at his beheaded target as its body crashed around him. Then he realized that something was off...the grimm was missing its head. The grimm started to dissolve back into shadows and as it faded he spotted someone on the other side of the creature's corpse. Tall, with black hair (with grey streaks) and a tattered red cape. Balanced on a shoulder was a segmented greatsword. "Well, well, well. I take it you're the big bad wolf himself?"

Warren just stared at him before he sighed. "Cana, disengage. De-active the War Suit-" The man's head snapped around at that and his red eyes narrowed as he looked at Warren. Warren in turn glared at him, [Why'd he react to the term 'War Suit'?]

"-and pause timer. Activate minimal defenses protocol." Most of the suit immediately started to open and retract as Warren watched the other man approach. A few people started appearing from around the village also approached them. "Thank goodness you came when you did! We can't thank you huntsmen enou-" Warren cut them off with a wave of his hand as he removed his helmet and turned away. "Forget it, I'm not a huntsmen." Several villagers gawked at him. Though if it was due to his statement or the fact that he was a Faunus he wasn't sure...not that he really cared either way. The villagers swarmed the other huntsmen and showered him with their thanks. Warren took the chance to backtrack to the wagon with the rest of his stuff.

The driver thanked him endlessly. Every other sentence was more thanks. He just wanted to stow his gear, drag his stuff to the blacksmith's place, and maybe find a place to crash for a few hours. After he stuffed the pieces of the war suit back into the crate, he checked his scroll. Timer was paused at 3:51. Cana managed to reset the timer even though I was interrupted. Looks like that last upgrade worked like a charm. He checked his aura level and winced. Just a few points shy of orange. "Cana estimate time of usage of the War Suit based off current aura levels." There was a pause before, "Current aura level would only power the War Suit for an estimated 3 minutes and 14 seconds before being fully depleted. Considering the difficulty of Grimm faced, a rather acceptable performance." Warren cringed, with the 6 minutes and 9 seconds that already passed that only put the total time up to 9:23. Quite a bit lower than the original estimate of 12:37. He lost a whole 3 minutes and 15 seconds due to damage he sustained. Maybe the armor plating WAS too heavy.

The last smith he spoke to said as much, but didn't have any recommendations for how to keep the level of defense but make it lighter. He slung his bag over his shoulder walked through the village as he continued to muse. He tried use a synthesized material before. It was much lighter but couldn't take the punishment he needed. It always seemed to bounce between those points. Light enough but not strong enough, strong enough but too heavy. At least he managed to fix the bug with the propulsion alignment.

He'd gotten used to the current settings, maybe he could adjust to higher output? But that require stronger, more weighty charges. It make him faster though, in bursts at least. He heaved a sigh, he was working in mental circles. He drew close to his destination when he heard two people locked in an argument. His ears flicked as he recognized the voice of huntsman. [He cut off the King Taijitu's second head, on his first and only attack. Crap~ I'm going to have to thank him aren't I?]

"Come on Timber! It'll be just a short visit! Come see how my students are doing, take a glance at their weapons and then straight to a bar to catch up! I know a great place." A deep voice rumbled out a sigh before replying to him, "Just be straight with me Qrow. Why do you want me to go to Vale?" Warren knocked on the door, and pretended that he didn't hear any of their conversation. The name rung a bell, but he couldn't remember where he knew the name Qrow from.

The door opened, and a large faunas with grey hair and golden eyes stared down at him. Once again, Warren cursed that he couldn't seem to grow past 5'5". Everyone seemed to tower over him, it just wasn't fair. The man stepped aside and let Warren in. "Hm. I take it you are the mysterious 'Black Armored Wolf' eh? Been hearing rumors of some wolf Faunus who claims that he isn't a huntsman, wandering around these parts slaying grim while clad in black armor."

Warren shrugged and replied, "Probably. I don't pay much attention to what people are saying about me. I came here because I was hoping I could get you to take a look at my armor." The smith stared him down, seeming to weigh him when the huntsmen-[What was his name? right!] Qrow screwed the cap back on his flask and spoke up once more,

"See? I'm not the only one who's visiting for your talents! Come on Timberwolf! Look I'll even admit I'm playing favorites. One of my nieces will be going to Beacon next year. But the younger one, three years away and she's designed a weapon that'll throw you for a loop!" Timberwolf stared Warren down for a moment longer before he sighed and turned to Qrow. "Fine, I'll take a look. But when we catch up, you are footing the tab." Qrow grumbled but nodded all the same as Timberwolf turned to look at Warren. "If you tag along, I can take a look at your armor."

Qrow interjected, "I have someone who wants to talk to you while we are there. He told me about the rumors of the Black Armored Wolf and to keep an eye out for leads." Timberwolf laughed and placed a hand on Warren's shoulder, "It's how life goes kid. No need to look so glum."

He stepped past them and headed into his house. Qrow looked at him. "So your weapon is a greatsword?" Qrow scoffed, and pulled his flask out again. "No, I wield a scythe." Warren's eyebrows shot up as Qrow took another drink. "Brought a Bullhead, set down outside of town. Saw the Grimm and helped out, no need to get serious on such small fry." Warren couldn't hold back his growl at that comment. [I had to go all out and that doesn't even come close to his level when he is not even being serious!]

Qrow laughed at his reaction, "What the matter kid? No match for a drunkard who isn't even serious? Well maybe if you got some formal trainin' you might be able to do something about that. We'll see how the meeting with Ozpin goes." [Ozpin? Isn't that the name of headmaster at Beacon? That's it! I've heard of Qrow! A top hunter who does intelligence work for Vale.]

Warren sighed, "Fine. I'll talk with Ozpin. And...thanks. For your help. With the Grimm." Qrow shrugged as he walked out of the house. "Anytime pup." This time Warren didn't even try to hold back his growl. "It's Warren! War-"

Qrow interrupted at that point, "Warren Marune, Dr. Marune's only child. Who left Atlas R&D with his wife to pursue their pet project when it got scrapped because the rest of the scientific community felt that huntsmen in armored suits would never come to fruition. A project dubbed, 'The War Suit'." Warren stopped and stared at Qrow in shock. "You've been missing for over 6 years now, kid. Popping up on another continent with a functional War Suit? We are going to have a LOT of questions for you to answer."


	2. Chapter 02: Moving Towards Beacon

Chapter 02: Moving Towards Beacon

Ozwald stretched and checked his straps one last time to make sure his weapons were secure. Once more he patted down his many pockets attached to his pants to ensure he had all him ammo when, a voice interrupted his mental count. "Why don't you just use your semblance to sense where everything is?" Oz paused and then turned and picked up his little brother. "Cause if I inherited the looks, brawn, AND all of the brains, there would be nothing left for you!" His brother laughed as Oz tickled his younger brother. "Alright, I have to get ready go Vert." Oz smiled as Vermilion frowned. It was a bit of a family joke that his brother's name, Vermilion, was a shade of red yet his nickname was a shade of green.

Their mother called out, "Ozwald! Don't forget that you promised your father you'd make that last delivery to Miss. Adel!" His family's company started out as a ferry between Vale and Patch. Over time it expanded, and transporting goods was the next field to be broken into. He still helped out from time to time when he needed an allowance. Vermilion was the one more interested in the family business. Speaking of his brother, Vert had a good idea. With well practiced ease, he reached out with his Semblance and checked to make sure he had all his gear. To his surprise, he was missing a clip.

Oz smiled when he sensed the disassembled clip. His little sister Rouge was in the workroom sitting at the table with a few tools and had almost fully taken the clip apart. After he set his brother down, Oz tousled his hair and shushed him as he snuck over to the other room. Because of his Tune Sense, he knew she faced away from the door. Silently he opened the door and snuck up behind her. After a brief smirk forced a scowl across his features and coughed to get her attention.

She hopped in her seat and slowly turned to see her eldest brother stood with his arms crossed and a glare aimed at her. With a sniffle she raised her arms to him and he caved, stepped forward, and gave her a hug. "Aw, what's wrong Rouge?" She pointed at the clip and whined, "I still don't get how it works! And you are leaving and I can't help you with it anymore!" She burst into tears as Oz chuckled softly and patted her head soothingly. "How about this? I'll leave that one here with you, but you have to promise me something." Her tears stopped and she tried to stifle her sniffles as she looked at Ozwald. "You have to promise that before I get back you can not only put it back together, but you found some way to make it better. Ok?"

"Ok! I promise!" She held out pinky toward him as she wiped her eyes. "I pinky promise!" With a grin he linked their pinkies. She spun around and started tinkering again as Oz left the room with a smile. His mother waited for him by the front door. "I put the delivery in the front compartment behind the headlight." He gave her a hug as she tried to hold back her tears. "I'm so proud of you Ozwald. Just come home safe, you hear me?"

"I hear you. Later mom!" Oz dashed outside and threw a leg over his bike. With a turn of the key, he revved the engine. Without a backwards glance he pulled out of the driveway and let the engine roar as he sped away.

-x-x-x-x-

Oz coasted down the street as he checked the house numbers. [No...nope...no-wait! There it is!] After he pulled into the driveway he killed the engine and grabbed the package. A quick dash and a swift knock left him at the door waiting for someone to answer. "Hold on! Almost~ there!" With that last word a girl about his age opened the door. Her brown hair was mostly tucked under cap except for the strands framing her face, with the ends bleached and dyed...orange?

"Can I help you?" [Oops! Staring.] "Yes, Marigold Delivery Service, package for one..." Oz checked the name again, "Coco Adel?" The girl's hazel eyes lit up as they locked onto the package in his hands. "Signature first please." With a roll of her eyes she held out a hand for his scroll. It was passed, signed and returned, so he handed her the package and, "Great timing too! I just finished packing and I couldn't leave for Beacon without my new look being complete!"

Oz raised an eyebrow at that. She was going to Beacon as well? At that point she managed to open the package and pulled out a pair of designer sunglasses. [Quite the expensive pair too...aren't those the ones that always look polarized to everyone else but adjusts for person wearing them?] "Well? How do I look?"

Ozwald hmmed as he looked her over. Dark brown cap, scarf, and some kind of corset/vest over a orange sweater. Black cargo pants with a rip on the thigh and knee length strapped boots. "First impression? Very fine, but looking you over...the amount of designer clothing and brand choices, are you sure you don't care a little bit TOO much about how you look?" She scoffed and crossed her arms but her smirk gave it away that she actually liked his answer. "You actually sound like you have a clue about fashion. Besides you can't put a price on looking good!"

[I'd beg to differ! Those glasses alone would cost me half my paycheck!] she cocked an eyebrow as she shifted her weight to a hip and looked over her shades at him, clearly awaited a response. As he figured she would not share his opinion, he felt a change of subject would be safer, "So you are starting Beacon this year as well?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

Ozwald shrugged and gestured to his motorcycle and offered, "I am as well. If you are ready, I could give you a ride." She looked at the bike then back at him before she asked, "Do you really think we can fit my suitcase and both of us on there?"

"It'll be big enough, trust me." She looked over her shades at him with a wide cheshire grin as Oz got a sinking feeling in his gut. Nervous now he managed to ask, "What?"

"Oh nothing~ we just met and you are already offering me a 'ride' and are assuring me to trust you that it's 'big enough.' Pretty bold if I do say so."

[What. ]

His jaw dropped and he turned scarlet as his mind stopped working.. Coco burst into laughter at his reaction, "Oh this will be so~ much~ fun! I'll be right back." Still stunned he managed to nod mutely as Coco disappeared back into her house. She came back with a normal sized suitcase and a yellow handbag. "This, is a great start to my first year."

In obvious disagreement, Ozwald turned away and grumbled as he tried to stop blushing. "Oh~? Do you not agree? Should I tell the first person I see about how forward you are?" He face palmed as she placed her suitcase on his bike. As he tied it down he replied with forced cheer, "Nope! Wonderful start couldn't have gone better!" He finished securing the suitcase and when he turned, he found her standing before him with her arm extended towards him. "Coco Adel."

With a small smile of relief he shook her hand, "Charmed, Ozwald Marigold." She grinned and covered her mouth in mock-shock, "Wait that means-"

Interrupting to get it out of the way, Ozwald rolled his eyes as he droned, "Yeah, yeah, same name as the company."

"No! It means you offered me THAT without even asking my name!"

...there was a long pause before Ozwald asked with resignation, "Are you ever going to let that-" She cut him off with a wide grin, "Nope! Too much fun." After he shot her an irritated glare he swung a leg over the motorcycle and revved the engine. He waited for her to climb on, but as she sat behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist she whispered in his ear, "Take me away, handsome." With a growl he gunned the engine, trying to drown out the sound of her laughter with the engine's roar.

-x-x-x-x-

Warren stormed out of Signal Academy's work room irritated. He was so absorbed in his thoughts he ran straight into someone as soon as he cleared the door.

"Whoa!" "Ouch!"

After a stumble, Warren managed to catch his balance. He looked over to see who he ran into. On the ground was a Faunus girl with straight brown hair that cascaded down to her shoulders as well as rabbit ears that currently stood strait up. She looked up and their eyes met. He opened his mouth to apologize so he could leave when,

"S-sorry! I wasn't paying attention and-" Warren let out a surprised chuckle and held out a hand to help her up. Startled by his reaction she looked up at him in surprise. "That's my line. Sorry I was lost in thought. Warren Marune. You?" She gave him a shy smile as she let him help her to her feet. "Velvet Scarlatina." Her eyes drifted to his hair and her eyes widened in surprise once more. [Well I take it my hood fell.]

"I haven't seen you before...I thought I knew all the Faunus that attended Signal though..."

With a shrug Warren gestured to the workshop. "I was visiting Glade village and a huntsmen ended up dragging along to talk to Ozpin about attending Beacon. But the smith is still looking at my weapon so I'm not sure how this is going to work." She ducked her head and softly suggested, "I was just coming by to ask them to transfer my weapon over after it finishes its software update, since Signal students keep the same lockers when they move on to Beacon. The last flight from Signal to Beacon is arriving soon, so you could ask for a locker and see if they'll send it along later."

Contemplating her suggestion, Warren made a thoughtful noise as he moved over to the door. In one swift motion he threw the door open and shouted, "Ey! Old geezers! When you are done with the War Suit can you transfer Velvet Scarlatina's weapon and mine to Beacon? Thanks!" Swiftly, he slammed the door shut but not before he heard Qrow's angry rebuttal of, "I'm not old!" His chuckles gave way to full blown laughter when he saw the horrified expression on Velvet's face. With a slight bow he offers her his arm and asked, "May I escort you to the airship? I'm actually not sure where to go."

Velvet stuttered out a refusal to his gesture as she turned away blushing. He pulled his hood back up and let her off the hook as he started questioning her about Signal and Beacon. How many people would be getting tested, how many people attend Beacon, anyone stand out among Signal's class and other simple questions. She seemed to calm down at the easier topics as she lead to way to the landing pad.

-x-x-x-x-

The airship came to a halt at Signal, the last stop before Beacon. Coco was off talking to some of her friends on the airship and had left Oz to watch both of their stuff 'or else'. He sat there as he tried to contemplate a plan on how to get Coco to never speak of their first meeting. After a short while the airship took off again and he noticed someone well...suspicious.

A guy in a black hoodie, with worn denim jeans and well traveled hiking boots. He paced the length of the ship over and over as he seemed incredibly restless. Oz noticed the guy was a Faunus when he saw his ears twitching beneath the hood. After the fourteenth loop Oz started to wonder if he should approach the guy. He was so distracted he didn't notice that Coco returned with a friend in tow until she punched his arm,

"Hey a cute girl is trying to introduce you to her friend! Pay attention!" Started he turns to see that Coco had dragged over a cute Faunus girl with bunny ears who was stuttering out apologies for Coco's behavior. "Sorry I got distracted...that guy over there is acting odd." When he points out the guy, the Faunus girl speaks up. "That is Warren. I um, literally, ran into him at Signal but he's not a student. Apparently he really impressed some huntsmen because he was recommended to Beacon and is going to talk to Ozpin for late admittance." Now THAT was interesting. Beacon had a very thorough screening process, just who did he impress to bypass all of that? While that was all good and interesting…. "Why is he pacing?"

Velvet giggled, at which Coco turned and stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "He doesn't like flying if he is not the pilot or near the controls." Coco got another cheshire grin that reminded Ozwald of his situation earlier that day. "Oh~ what's this? Velvet~ how do you know so much about Mr. Dark and Mysterious, hm~~~? First day and already you have a crush? Aw that's so~ cute~" Velvet gaped at Coco as she blushed and ducked her head. She backed away in a weak attempt to get away from Coco...and ran right into Warren. He reached out and caught her as she tripped and prevented the girl from falling to the floor. "Hello Velvet. We really need to stop meeting like this, what will your friends think?"

A pitiful moan escaped her Velvet lips as her face turned scarlet. She looked for aid and her gaze immediately passed over Coco, simply from the gleefully triumphant look on her friend's face. Instead Velvet directed her silent plea towards Ozwald as Warren continued to in a conspiratorial tone, "So! Dark and mysterious am I?" Velvet froze and defied all belief as her blush deepened even further. Oz was shocked, [He heard that?] A poke to his side drew his attention to Coco as she whispered, "I like him. If this keeps going I am gonna charge admittance."

"Only if I get a cut." Coco jumped as Warren helped Velvet to her feet and inquired, "Friends of Velvet, I presume?" Velvet shook her head. "Him I don't know, and I'm starting to question why I ever stick around Coco." With a sly grin Coco stood and pulled down her shades to look at him projecting a face of confidence. "I'm Coco Adel and let me tell you, it has been a pleasure." She winked and gestured to Oz, "This fine strapping young man here is Ozwald Marigold. He gave me a 'ride' to the airship."

With a groan Oz leaned back against the wall as Coco shot him a mischievous grin. He knew she brought it up purely for his reaction but he couldn't help it. The Faunus shrugged and pulled his hood down, "Warren. Warren Marune." Coco's jaw dropped as she gaped at him, which in turn drew the attention of the others. "Isn't that the name of the guy who saved Glade Village? The Black Armored Wolf?"

"...how is it that people have already heard about that?"


	3. Chapter 03: Orientation

Chapter 03: Orientation

Liseran Mathews walked down yet another paved walkway that wound around yet _**another**_ garden on Beacon's campus. She got dropped off early due to her pilot having some kind of emergency and would be unable to drop her off at the later date. Professor Goodwitch was very understanding and let her sleep in the ballroom with her sleeping bag. Apparently after the orientation all first year students would be sleeping in the ballroom until they finished their initiation and were assigned their own rooms. Bored she spun her trident in its sheathed staff form to stave off boredom. [Hehe, spin the staff to STAVE off boredom. That's funny, I wish there was someone I could tell that too. It's a good icebreaker!]

The last airship bringing students should be arriving so they should be calling them all to the auditorium soon. Liz hummed to herself as she came across the shuttle port and noticed an expensive looking, and thus obviously privately owned airship was docked. She proceeded to whistle the tune she hummed earlier as she walked over to the airship.

[Is it dropping off a student? I wonder if they are a boy or a girl? Maybe it was a diplomat meeting Ozpin? Hmmm doubtful, they wouldn't visit on the first day for students...right? They'd have to know how much more Professor Ozpin would have on his plate today...well, only one way to know for sure!]

-x-x-x-x-

Fae stepped off the ramp and took a deep breath. She smiled at the faint scent of flowers that lined the walkways and the fresh air. Her thoughts were interrupted when Charles spoke up from atop the airship's ramp, "M'lady, are you sure you do not wish to take more personal effects with you? I'm sure that once they see who is inquiring they'll be more amenable to making an exception..." A quiet sigh went unnoticed by her butler as she spun around to speak with him. "Yes Charles, for the _**seventeenth**_ time, I am certain I have brought all the necessities."

Charles bowed deeply as he continued, "Apologies M'lady. When you write home please add a note if you find yourself in need of anything, anything at all! We will have it prepared and sent within the hour!" A sad chuckle passed from her lips as she knew he wasn't exaggerating.

"Ello!" Surprised to hear someone address them Fae turned away from Charles to see a grey eyed girl with a staff slung across her shoulders eyeing her. Fae quickly took in the other girl's appearance. She wore a leather jacket over her purple t-shirt that was a shade or two darker than her hair, which was pulled back into a simple ponytail. Dark brown cargo shorts and long leather boots that stopped just shy of her knees completed her apparel. The girl looked her in the eye and grinned innocently as she stepped closer,

"Wow, you have pretty eyes! Hehe anyways I am Liseran Mathews! Is this your airship? It looks different from most airships so I figured it was privately owned! I was wondering who would be showing up today, but you're here to be a student huh?" During her ramble Liz slid her staff onto her back and started talking with her hands. [Well she is certainly forward! Uh oh...] Charles had stepped forward, and inclined his head to Liseran. "Greetings Miss Mathews. This is Lady Faerien'diaz Von-Vert, of-" Much to their surprise, Liseran dashed forward and took Fae's hands in her own and cut off Charles' introduction. Fae's bracelets clinked as the other girl briskly shook her hand up and down.

"Ooooh~ I've heard of you! The young princess of Vertile! Well not really a princess, no queen or kings there. But your family ruled there for years~ why are you coming to Beacon? Not that I'm complaining, Remnant needs all the huntsmen and huntresses it can get but-" Her ramble was cut short when a feminine voice rang throughout the grounds. "Attention all first year students. Please make your way to the auditorium for your orientation."

"Ah! I gotta go! Well you do too I guess but~" She stopped shaking Fae's hand for a moment and seemed to concentrate. She lightly tapped Fae's hand and for a moment Fae could have sworn that Liseran eyes turned green. "I'll find you later! Bye!" And just like that she ran off. Charles chuckled as he turned to look at her. "Well, she was certainly...spirited." Fae giggled as Charles turned somber. "Well it is good to see that even here, your reputation precedes you." Swiftly Fae ducked her head to hide her wince, that was actually something she hopped to avoid. "I hope you will be well milady." He bowed and stepped back onto the airship as she politely inclined her head towards him in thanks. [After all, he would 'remind' me of my image if I tried to address him less formally.] With a light tug she pulled her single suitcase behind her as she stepped into Beacon.

-x-x-x-x-

Fae walked down the hallway that lead to the auditorium. Near the entrance she was asked to sign in and passed off her luggage. They would arrange for it to be brought to her room after they were assigned, but if she needed something out of it she could just ask any of the staff for assistance. The final set of door were open giving her a clear view of the auditorium. It was, summed up in one word...packed. Overly so. Were there really this many first years attending Beacon? She walked in and looked around at the sea of faces.

Most students opted to hold on to their weapons, a few were transforming them, showing off to their peers. Fae hung back unsure on where to go and mingle when she hear the crackle of a microphone. "Greetings first year students." An instant hush fell over the crowd and as one they turned to face the woman on stage. Up on the stage stood a blond woman with glasses and a purple cape. Fae tried to get a better look but she couldn't really tell much more from the distance they stood apart.

"As you may have guessed, I am Glynda Goodwitch. I would like to formally welcome you all to Beacon. Well done for coming this far. Before we continue however your headmaster, Professor Ozpin, would like to say a few words." She stepped to the side and Fae caught a glimpse of a tall pale man with silver hair and green clothes before the crowd pressed in each student trying to silently get a better look.

"I'll try to be brief. Our world is experiencing a wonderful time of peace. Peace that was not entirely founded upon good intentions. War, racism, and the ever present threat of the Creatures of Grimm, have brought us together, united in the face of a common foe. Amongst you number the best and brightest the kingdoms have to offer...but that alone is not enough. Peace is the result of hard work and effort put in tirelessly by men and women across the world. We will train you, and give access to the skills necessary to continue to uphold that peace. Unfortunately those very same skills can be used to destroy it. Ultimately it is up to each and everyone one of you, to uphold your morals through the trials you will undoubtedly face, or this peace will not last. In the end, that choice lies with you."

As he stepped away from the microphone as the students murmured to each other. That was...rather dark. She expected a bit more of a pep talk or something. Professor Goodwitch had stepped back up and continued to speak. "Tonight first year students will sleep in the ballroom. Sleeping bags will be provided to those who forgot them, and your initiation begins tomorrow. You have the rest of the day to prepare yourselves and explore the grounds. You are dismissed."

That was...brief. Unhelpful. Unorthodox. What kind of orientation was this? Where were the dorms, the classrooms, the cafeteria, the headmaster's office, training rooms-

"Faaaaaaaaaaaaae~" Her musings were cut short when Liz seemed to materialize out of nowhere and tackle her with a hug. "Wha-how'd you-" Fae started as she turned to Liz and WATCHED as the girl's eyes turned from green to grey. An infectious smile broke across the purple haired girl's face as she backed off with and curtsied. "Your-your eyes just...what?" Liz's eyes went wide as she covered her mouth in shock. "Wow you caught that? Hehe, it's part of my semblance! Anyways come on!"

Before the young noble could protest she grabbed Fae by the hand and dragged her from the room. "Wait! Where are we going?" Liz let go to spin around and face her with an excited grin, "To the sparring hall! Earlier while I was wandering around one of the staff mentioned that the sparring halls are holding a tournament of sorts! Upperclassmen are given extra credit to encourage them to participate. First years are allowed to spar to the first hit. Lets them test the waters but not tire themselves out for the initiation! It will also give us a chance to see what our peers can do! It'll be fun so~...let's go!" Faerien was about to question how Liz knew where to go, but the words died unspoken when she saw that the irises of Liseran's eyes had changed colors once more. However this time they were yellow. [What is going on? What is with her eyes?]

-x-x-x-x-

Warren urgently slid through the crowd as Glynda started her closing speech. As soon as he managed to reach the end of the stage, he watched as Professor Ozpin disappeared backstage. [Damn! Well...damn!] He didn't see any other option so, Warren approached the shadowed area off to the side and sank into the darkness. Warren grit his teeth as he forced himself through the force that resisted his movement when he Shadow Walked. As quickly as he was able he made his way up the wall and under the curtain. After a quick inspection failed to reveal anyone he stepped out of the shadows backstage. Now he just had to find where Ozpin had walked off to...

"Now there is something you don't see everyday." Warren froze as he heard someone speak from behind him. The silence that followed was broken when the headmaster took a sip of his coffee. Warren turned to face the man completely at a loss as to where Ozpin came from. [I didn't see anyone back here! Where the hell did he pop out of!?]

"Warren Marune. When Qrow told me he wanted me to approve your application to Beacon, I must admit I was surprised. I did not expect you to be within Vale, or carrying on your late parents work. Though it is several years late, you have my condolences for your loss." A sharp intake of breath could be heard from the young faunus as he found himself at a loss for words. In fact he felt like he could hardly breath. [What the hell is with this guy?]

Ozpin seemed to sense his rising panic and gestured for Warren to follow as he walked past the young faunus. "I knew your parents. Well your mother at least. It is fairly common for the headmasters of the four kingdoms to know all the active huntsmen and huntresses on, at the very least, a first name basis. Your father I knew by name and via a rare occasional correspondence. After all any work in pursuit of preserving the life of our hunters is commendable. Though I was under the impression that their work was destroyed in a Grimm attack, and their only son was assumed dead as there was no body ever found."

The silver haired man spared Warren a glance as they walked, "I see now that you simply took the prototype with you, and improved upon it as well!" At that comment Warren finally found his voice, though he couldn't help the tremor that snuck in, "Not by much. I only really managed to finish building what was in the design specifications and apply them to the prototype. As far as actual improvements..."

The headmaster reached over and hit the button to summon an elevator as he contemplated Warren's words. "I see. Qrow mentioned that you were having difficulty facing a King Tijitsu. Though based off his description of your fight, you weren't running the Overdrive Protocol. A wise choice, keeping that in reserve as an ace in the hole. However...You will do well to remember that even if you hold a winning hand: a card that is never used, is a card wasted."

Warren stared at him. He couldn't help it. His jaw dropped and he just stared at him in blatant shock. The professor offered him a sympathetic smile as he continued his musings. "In any event my office is at the top of this tower. I was going to have someone escort you here after the orientation to discuss your admittance but seeing as you...found me on your own, that doesn't really seem necessary. Welcome to Beacon Mr. Marune."

The elevator slid shut and Warren was left stunned on the other side of the door. The War Suit was still considered classified information by the Atlas military. He couldn't find any additional information about it anywhere. The only information he did has was whatever CANA managed to download before they left. Not to mention the Overdrive Protocol wasn't part of the original design, it was something that was added after the Marunes left the Atlas R&D. For Ozpin to know all that information just of the top of his head...For the first time in a long time Warren felt completely and utterly out of his league.

-x-x-x-x-

[I am completely and utterly out of my league. I am completely and UTTERLY out of my league. I am-] Ozwald sat at a table in the cafeteria in an attempt to grab a late lunch when Coco found him. They were eventually joined by Velvet and then several of their very attractive friends. At this point Oz was sitting at a table surrounded by a dozen attractive females and awaited the point for one of them to notice him and shoo him away. Or for Coco to tease him with 'that joke' and the others to kill him before he could have a chance to explain himself.

"So Coco! Who's the cutie next to you?" [FINALLY! Someone noticed me! Now I just have to excuse mysel- wait...cutie?] With a slightly surprised expression, Ozwald looked over at the girl who spoke. Long dark blue hair, so dark it was practically black and tanned skin like she spent her whole life out in the sun. She leaned forward and their eyes met.[... I think I'll stick around a little while longer...]

Coco laughed loudly when she noticed the exchange and elbowed him in the ribs. "Believe it or not, I just met him today. So I don't know if he is taken or not." Almost every girl at the table turned and started to appraise him. Startled he fought and failed to hide the blush that rose to his cheeks and colored his ears as his earlier train of thought resumed. [I am so far out of my league. I am so far out of my league...] The girl with sapphire like eyes grinned as she caught his eyes again. "Well? Are you?" Frozen in place he stared at her, much to Coco's immense enjoyment.

Velvet gave him a pitiful look and nudged him in an attempt to prompt a response from him. Unfortunately he simply blurted out the last thing he had on his mind. "I am so far out of my league. I am-"

Oz stopped himself and there was a long moment of silence before Coco started to howl with laughter to the point where she fell out of her seat. With everyone's attention on Coco, Ozwald practically ran from his seat. Swiftly he ducked into the men's restroom and washed his face in an attempt to forget that incident ever happened...and pretend that he did not just give Coco something else to tease him about. Despondent he dried his hands and left the bathroom, but as he approached the cafeteria door, it opened and-

"Oh! Hello again." Nervously he forced a smile onto his face and hoped that he didn't look too embarrassed he turned. "Don't worry about Coco. She's always like that. Anyways, I don't think we were ever introduced. My name is Aqua. Aqua Galantaea." She stuck out her hand and Oz gratefully shook it as he replied with, "It is nice to meet you, Aqua." She smiled and waited. After a few moments she gave a rolling gesture with her free hand. As her gesture obviously confused him, she rolled her eyes with a laugh and commented, "This is where you say, 'Hello Aqua! I am, out of my league! I would tell you my name but I guess I prefer to be called-' "

"Ozwald Marigold." This time he managed to keep from blushing and kept his gaze level. Aqua's gaze dropped as she stepped away with a subtle smirk. "Well, Ozwald. Maybe you were not as far out of your league as you think." With a wink she turned and walked away from him. As she left a slow dorky smile crossed his features as he thought to himself, [Coco's right. This is the best start-]

His eyes went wide as he shook his head. [Oum help me did I just admit Coco is right!?]

-x-x-x-x-

Liz shoved open the doors and ran inside the training room. The room was shaped like an amphitheater, with elevated seating placed around the central arena so the fights couldn't spill into the stands. Fae calmly proceeded down the stairs as she noted that Liz had already sprinted down to the bottom of the seating area and had started to cheer for one of the contestants currently sparring. There weren't many people, only the upper classmen so far. It had not been that long after Ozpin's speech ended so that was to be expected. A loud buzzer sounded and a boisterous voice rang out from the speakers around the room.

"Ah-ha! And with that the match is over! Well fought! Now, for those just entering greetings! My name is Professor Port! As you can tell we are holding little sparring matches, so you can see what your peers are capable of and see how you measure up! Due to your initiation being tomorrow, the rounds will only last till the first hit! Each of you are also limited to five rounds to prevent any of you from tiring yourselves out and depleting your auras too far. Pit your weapons, your wit, your bullets against each other and see who comes out...Victorious!"

Faerien had early on in the speech given up on her attempt to find the speaker. Where ever he was his voice was broadcast throughout the room. Next to her, Liz was practically vibrating in place, clearly she had trouble with self restraint. Professor Port's voice rang through the room once more, "Very well then! Who is next?" Before she knew what had happened, her hand was yanked upwards and lifted into the air. Shocked she managed to school her features to reflect only slight surprise as she stared at Liz. Only then did she registered the words the eccentric girl shouted. "Us next! We are ready! Please?"

As she tried to protest, the professor responded with a laugh, "So eager! Very well! Enter the ring and register your scrolls!" Oh no. Her name would pop up. If ANYONE knew who she was, everyone in the room would soon find out. So much for a low profile. She noticed that Liz had disappeared. Probably already in the ring. With a sigh Fae jumped the railing and dropped into the ring. There was a brief silence as the professor spoke from off to the side of the ring, thankfully this time it wasn't broadcast through the whole room. "Especially eager it seems. Though next time the stairs may prove preferable, hm?" Fae ducked her head in embarrassment as she passed the professor her scroll.

He passed it over a tablet he held in his off hand. After a pause the tablet 'dinged' to indicate that it successfully scanned before he passed her scroll back. In a rush Liz dashed over from the foot of the stairs across the ring. She grinned as he repeated the process for her. Quietly so the professor wouldn't overhear, or at the very least would know to ignore her words, she hissed in a low whisper, " _Why~_?" The smirk on Liseran's face widened into a dazzling smile as she responded in a similar whisper. "Why not? People have a hard time hiding their intentions in a fight. You seem nice but can you hold your own? What kind of person are you really?"

With that said, Liseran stepped off with a purposeful stride. When she reached the line painted on the floor on the opposite side of the arena she turned to face her soon to be opponent. Without warning, Liz's eyes flickered between several colors as she drew her staff and spun it around with a small flourish before she settled in a ready stance. One iris was red, the other green. Fae forced herself to relax and loosened her Six-Slicer pistols in their holsters.

-x-x-x-x-

Ozwald wandered about the school in a daze. [Maybe not as far out of your league as you think? Was she just teasing me? Or did she actually mean that?] He opened another set of doors and found a large crowded room with a railing around the center of the room. Near the railing stood Velvet with a...camera? [Why did she have a old fashion camera? Scrolls could take pictures...next to her was that wolf faunus. What was his name again? Right! Warren.] Warren looked bored as leaned over the railing.

Eager for something else to focus on he wandered over to them, but before he could ask what they were up to a voice rang throughout the room. "Very well! Next match Liseran Mathews vs. Faerien'diaz Von-Vert!" The crowd went silent before everyone in the room rushed to the edge of the ring. Squashed into a spot between Warren and Velvet he looked at the two girls who faced off in the ring. Everyone's attention seemed to be drawn to the girl with green eyes and long black hair pulled into a braided ponytail. Uncomfortable, but unwilling to give up his spot he managed to ask as the professor called out for them to start, "What is all this?" Warren grunted as he watched the fight while Velvet shushed him, her camera snapping pictures. "I need to focus, wait till after the fight!" Gunshots rung out and Oz shrugged.

-x-x-x-x-

As soon as Professor Port called begin Fae had drawn her pistols and fired several shots before she darted to the side and continued to fire.

Liz spun her staff as it started to change. Neatly she deflected the initial barrage as the point of her trident came to rest on the ground. One quick proposition shot launched her into the air away from the oncoming barrage.

Fae stopped and popped the clip out of one of her pistols. The pistol spun up into the air from a light toss as grabbed one of the dust imbued clips as she continued to fire with her other hand. A shot was fired from her opponent in mid air. This time the shot was fired from the blunt end of the trident, which propelled Liseran point first at Fae.

Swiftly Fae rolled forward under the dive as she replaced the clip. She flipped her other pistol around as it shifted into its hatchet form. As soon as Liz landed she swung her trident around, but Fae managed to block with her hatchet and fired with her freshly loaded pistol at point blank range. The buzzer sounded and Liz frowned.

"With that we have a winner! First strike to Faerien! Congratulations, marvelous fight!" With an lazy twist of the wrist, Fae tossed the hatchet into the air as it transformed. As soon as it finished shifting it fell into her open palm allowing her to stow the pistols back in their holsters. With a slight pout Liz sighed as her trident reverted to its staff state before she stowed it on her back. Instantly she bounced back to her cheerful self, "That was fun! You're faster than I gave you credit for, though in a room this small I'd always be at a disadvantage." Fae tilted her head in confusion and Professor Port spoke up. "Ms. Mathews here holds the highest score in both sharpshooting accuracy and distance, in this year's pool of applicants. One of the highest we've seen in many years in fact." Liz grinned and spun to the stairs. "I'm gonna watch a few more matches. Later~"

Fae smiled slightly to herself. She always thought snipers had to be patient and calm, apparently appearances can be VERY deceiving. As she reached the stairs she saw out of the corner of her eye someone get shoved over the railing. Confused, she stopped and turned to see what was going on as a short male in dark clothing jumped the railing and passed his scroll to the professor, and utterly ignored the boy he pushed.

-x-x-x-x-

While Liz and Fae stowed their weapons Velvet leaned over to Oz and showed him the camera. "What do you think?" Oz glanced down and saw several shots of Fae's legs and Liz's back. "Uh...they are, very clear?" Velvet smiled shyly, "I recently rebuilt on lens, so I am glad they are coming through clear." With a nervous nod Ozwald kept himself silent, as he had no idea what else to say without hurting her feelings. He glanced over at Warren who had looked at the camera as well. Warren took one look at Oz and shook his head in disbelief before he mouthed the words, 'Their Weapons. Dumbass.'

[What about-oh! Velvet took pictures OF their weapons.] Before either of them could speak someone from behind them spoke up. "What crummy pictures. Couldn't even get clear shots of their faces. But what would you expect from an animal?"

Oz went stiff and almost missed Warren that pulled something out of his pocket and placed it in his hood. Velvet shrunk away from the guy behind them as Oz turned and glared at him. "Animal? Sorry the only ignorant beast you'll ever see is the one you'll find in a mirror." The guy towered over them by at least a six inches and considering Ozwald was 5'10", this guy was massive. On his back was a large maul with a rifle barrel in the shaft. "Pathetic, sticking up for the thing. See? It knows I'm right that's why it's not denying- gah!"

He was interrupted when Warren stepped forward grabbed him by his shirt and threw him over the railing. "CANA, activate Overdrive protocol on all available combat systems on my mark. Sorry Velvet, but I'm going to beat the living _**shit**_ out of this guy." As he jumped up onto the railing Oz saw that he had pulled his hood down and had some kind of earpiece with a lens covering his left eye. Warren winked at Velvet, "You can have the next one." With that he jumped over the railing. Without a care in the world, he calmly walked over to Professor Port and handed the teacher his scroll without a word as he passed the older man and took his spot across the arena. The professor's disapproval was clear on his face as he simply held Warren's scroll in hand. At least until the idiot opened his mouth.

"What the fuck is your problem you-" he got a good look at Warren as he pulled his hoodie off and engaged the Fists of War. "You fucking animal! I'll teach you not to screw with me!" The professor's look turned to understanding as he turned to the other student. "Jayde Lagune. First, you are being challenged to a match, the time for trash talk is over. Second, if you make one more racial slur I will personally ensure you are on the first airship back to Vale. Finally either accept the challenge and fight, or get out of my sight." Jayde growled as he stormed over and shoved his scroll towards the professor. With a sigh Professor Port scanned Jayde scroll and passed it back to the prospective student. Jayde's name popped up with his aura level displayed while Port made his way over to Warren. The professor repeated the process and returned Warren's scroll to him as he looked at Jayde's aura levels. Not bad, somewhat higher than the average student. Warren's name popped up with his aura level seconds later...almost fully double Jayde's. The crowd went silent and everyone heard Warren growl out the word. "Mark." His whole body glowed as his aura activated, the silver and maroon trimmings on his gauntlets seemed to flicker violently as his jet black aura danced across weapon.

-x-x-x-x-

Oz pointed to the screen, as he whispered to Velvet, "What's going on? His aura levels are dropping!"

"You haven't heard the rumors?"

They both turned to see Coco had arrived. She shrugged and continued, "It is his weapon. Somehow it drains aura, but in turn is practically weightless and incredibly powerful. There has been talk of his exploits of Grimm slaying for a while now, taking on monsters that most people leave for professional Huntsmen. At least that is what the rumors about the Black Armored Wolf say. I'd say it looks to be true."

-x-x-x-x-

Jayde growled as he pulled his hammer from his back. "Are you ready to regret ever coming to Beacon?" Silence reigned as Warren didn't reply, he simply watched and waited. "Say something you little-"

"BEGIN!"

Warren fired dust fueled propulsion rounds, and rocketed forward. Caught off guard Jayde swung his hammer and pulled the trigger to swing the heavy weapon around quickly. A thunderous clang split the air as the crowd stared awestruck. Warren had caught the hammer and brought it to a full stop with just one hand. Before the bully could react War's other hand was propelled by another propulsive blast right into Jayde's face. Jayde shot across the room and slammed into the wall before he slid to the ground unconscious. Everyone turned to watch Jayde's aura level drop from full to well over halfway gone. Warren took out more than half his opponent's aura, _in a single hit_. Warren removed his earpiece and stated in a clear voice. "Combat And Navigation Assistant, disengage combat systems." Immediately the glow from his aura faded as an artificial voice spoke, "Acknowledged, systems dropping to idle state for reactivation."

-x-x-x-x-

Coco smirked as she patted Velvet's shoulder. "That is very clever of him." Velvet nodded sadly as Oz looked at her confused. "What are you talking about?" Before Coco could answer some else spoke up.

"She means that by fighting that asshole, this Warren guy showed exactly how overwhelming powerful he was. Guessing the reason he picked the fight was that Jayde guy said something similar to what he shouted in the ring. Not only did this Warren crush Jayde so thoroughly, he is also showing off his Combat navigation assist thingy. Sure it drains his aura but by showing it off like this he is basically shouting, 'you think I care about losing a bit of aura? It takes a mere fraction of my aura for me to completely crush you.' Anyone that has a bone to pick with faunus will think twice with him around."

Everyone turned to see the trident wielding girl from the match before. Unlike her attitude before and during her match, she seemed...serious. To a severe degree. To break the tense silence Oz gave introductions, "Liseran...right? I'm Oz. Ozwald Marigold. This is Coco and Velvet. We saw your fight!"

Liseran's personality seemed to immediately bounce back as she twirled in place, before she struck a pose with a peace symbol before her face as she exclaimed, "Yeah totally got my butt kicked!" From behind the purple haired girl, Faerien burst into hushed giggles and Oz finally managed to get a good look at her.

Kinda tall, just a bit shorter than him. Her hair was pitch black and her eyes were a dark emerald green. Sparing her apparel an once over she wore a long sleeved dark green shirt that seemed to be made of silk. A high quality leather corset with silver studs, dark brown skinny-jeans that go down to her knee length designer leather boots. She also had on a short camo-patterned hooded shawl with what appeared to be her huntress emblem holding the shawl closed. The left side was a butterfly wing, while the right looked to be a partial face of a clock. There were several bracelets on her wrists that clinked together as she covered her mouth to stifle her giggles at the purple haired girl's antics.

In Liz's seemingly usual childish manner she made a face and stuck her tongue out at Fae as the rest of them broke into laughter. "Glad to see I didn't ruin the mood." Warren deadpanned as he walked back up to them. His hoodie was tucked under his arm, his gauntlet were still engaged, and his faunus ears on display for all to see. As Warren nodded to Velvet, Ozwald realized that Liseran was right. He was showing off, not in a 'I am better than you' way but in a 'fuck with me and I will destroy you' sense.

Liz spun lazily in place as she replied for them, "Nah I'd say that Jayde guy did that. I'm done with watching the fights. Oooooh!" Unexpectedly she dashed forward and grabbed Warren's arm and ignored his protests as she turned to the others. "I know a GREAT place to watch the sunset before we head to the ballroom, this way!" She took off and literally dragged Warren along with her while completely ignoring his protests and struggles. Fae smiled as she followed the eccentric girl, Oz glanced at the other two. Suddenly shy Velvet gestured to the ring and mumbled, "I...kinda need to keep watching the matches." Coco gave him a slight push in the direction of the others as she said with a laugh, "Go ahead. I'll keep Velvs out of trouble."


	4. Chapter 04: Before Initiation

Chapter 04: Before Initiation

The rest of the evening passed surprising quickly. Liz showed off all of her favorite spots she somehow managed to find with the day she when she was dropped off early. Heck she practically knew where everything was, after barely a full day of exploration! Various class rooms, all the training rooms, shortcuts to cafeteria, the auditorium and ballroom. Not to mention all the random scenic locations. It had started to bother Ozwald.

But as they walked he noticed that Faerien just absorbed all the information like a sponge. Apparently she was basically royalty, and had a ridiculously memory to boot. They got on the topic when she asked about how Liz could change her eye color. Fae proceeded to list every instance she witnessed the color change (and to what color) when he asked how she could remember all that in such detail.

"Well...I have a photographic memory. I remember pretty much everything I see. I might not notice details right away but I can remember them and pick them out. Like when Liz came up to me the second time was when I first 'noticed' her eye color change. The first time we ran into each other I didn't really catch it but, when she was about to leave she tapped my hand and they changed to a forest green color."

Liz grinned as she lead them to the ballroom. Her eyes were currently a pearly white color much to their confusion. Oz could have sworn they were normally a cool grey color. "So~~What do you guys think of Beacon? It's really pretty huh? Not as sandy as Shade, nicer than Haven and more comfortable than Atlas!"

Oz laughed as she turned and gave him a pouty glare. "What? I'm agreeing with you! Vale is the most neutral kingdom. Atlas is all military oriented. Minstrel and Vacuo have their own problems but Vale manages to pull off security without imposing upon the citizens. Sure it has a hand it everything incase of emergencies to facilitate a swift response but, it leaves the day to day to each business."

The silence that followed prompted Oz to look at the others and was surprised that he had their undivided attention. Well maybe not Liseran's undivided attention, as she was being her apparently 'normal' hyperactive self. Warren looked mildly interested and had stopped his whole, 'I will trail behind them group cause I am not with those guys' while Fae was totally engrossed in his explanation. "Erm, like...you do know about all that...right?"

When they replied with a chorus of no's, he shrugged and elaborated for them. "Ok so, my family owns a transportation and shipping company right? When a company reaches a certain 'size' or manages a certain percentage of the market in Vale, they have to conform to certain protocols and procedures. So like, if a city wide evacuation is called we are expected to be able to help by providing transports. So, per the regulations we maintain a few emergency use ships that are always empty and always ready to start the evac. By the time those ships are loaded with civilians, we will have unloaded the other transports filled with cargo and have them ready to transport more people. I mean certain protocols cover simpler things like transporting dust, but as long as we conform to the safety standards and help in emergencies the company is free to do what it wants."

"What happens when someone refuses to comply or conform?" The group looked over at Fae who seemed to be slightly embarrassed by the sudden attention. "I mean, it must have occurred at least once, correct?"

"Honestly, Vale does next to nothing. The only thing they really do is label them as non-compliant. But that means they have to remove their certification or can never get the certification to post it. That is a _**huge**_ stigma within Vale because the procedures are there to help people if they need it, and to keep both the employees and the general populace safe. So if a company is refuses to comply, then general population looks at that company as a group that doesn't care about Vale or about their own workers. Meaning, less people want to deal with them and less people want to work for them." Finished Oz let the silence stretch, as each of the others mulled over his words. Well it seemed that what Warren and Fae were doing, Liz was once again off in her own-

"So your family owns a transportation company? Which one? Have they ever not complied? Ooooh, wait a minute! You are a local!" Liz whirled around and placed her hands on Oz's shoulders to look him dead in the eye. Surprised by the apparent seriousness of the situation, everyone stopped walking and watched. "Most importantly, where is the best place to get food in Vale?" There was a long silence as everyone stared at her, and tried to figure out if she was serious or not.

Ozwald burst out into hysterical laughter to the point where Liz had to step away so he could double over. Fae started to chuckle as Warren hid a smirk, while Liz start to pout at their reactions. "It was a serious question, jeez!" As the young man struggled to catch his breath through the chuckles he added, "No it is just, hehe, you were so earnest!" He grins as he brought his laughter under control. "I thought you were about to bring up a super serious topic." Feigning upset Liz continues to pout as she mutters loud enough for them to hear, "Food IS a serious topic. Can't do anything on an empty stomach."

"…"

That time, even Liseran burst into laughter.

-x-x-x-x-

The ballroom was divided, for the most part, down the middle of the room. Guys were on the left and girls on the right. After everyone either pulled a sleeping bag from their luggage, or acquired one from the staff, people started to pick places to sleep on either side. Since they were not specifically 'instructed' to sleep on separate sides of the room, a few of the more daring girls moved to the 'guys side' (led by Coco and Liseran) and the middle of the room turned into a mixed zone for friends and people who knew each other from before coming to Beacon. Warren propped his sleeping bag against the wall as he looked around the room. He found Jayde, and glared when he noticed the racist bastard once **again** trying to move his sleeping bag closer to the girl side as all nearby girls subtlety moved farther away. Irritated he made whispered under his breath, "CANA. If you can access the cameras in here, keep an eye on him. Just in case."

"With pleasure."

With that managed, he decided to find the others he encountered and glanced about the room. Ozwald was surrounded by girls. Coco finally released his arm and seemed to be done teasing him, as he was no longer red in the face. Fae disappeared somewhere into the girl side of the room and he couldn't pick her out. With an indifferent shrug, he figured that she probably turned in already. Liz was in the center of the room and surrounded by large audience. Them seemed entrapped by her tale as she gestured wildly with her hands before they all burst into laughter at whatever joke she just told them. Satisfied, he rolled over and was about to turn in when his scroll went off. Surprised he checked it, a message?

"Warren Marune.  
This is Timberwolf. I sent your weapon to Beacon about an hour ago when I finished taking the measurements. I meant to let you know right away but got distracted with the preliminary alloy molding. I have a few ideas of a few different materials you might be able to use, but for now I'm going to try to get a solid example before I present you with the options. In any event, I stored your gear in locker number 0229. With Signal's relation to Beacon it was simple to have them registered it to your scroll. You should be able to ask any staff member to point you to the main locker room to pick it up." Warren leapt to his feet and went straight for the door. [Not that I don't trust him. But...that suit is my heritage. I HAVE to make sure nothing is wrong. And double check that he didn't mess with any settings.]

-x-x-x-x-

Ozwald blushed furiously once again. Aqua asked how he knew Coco so when he started to tell her. Overhearing the story Coco broke in and told them about the joke she made when he offered her a lift to the airship. Most of them laughed, Velvet looked up from her scroll and shot Coco a disappointed look, while Aqua tapped on his shoulder to give him a sympathetic smile. Hence his blush. He noticed Warren get up and start to cross the room. Apparently he wasn't the only one to notice as Velvet also stood up. "I have something to take care of."

"What is it?" Startled, Velvet looked at him with surprise evident in her body language. "My weapon got sent over from Signal. I was going to go collect it from the locker room." Curious if that was just a cover for a secret meeting with Warren, Oz shrugged as he stood up. "Would you like an escort? It'll give me a chance to pick a locker."

The fact that it also would be a convenient reason to get away from Coco, was a good motivator. She started to mumbled out a weak protest before she changed her mind and accepted. As they left the room they were stopped by an upperclassman who provided them with directions to the locker room. Apparently students took odd jobs around the school, and that included helping the first years. Once they were out of earshot of the others Ozwald inquired, "So is it just a coincidence that your weapon arrived shortly after Warren left the room?"

Velvet looked at him puzzled before she asked, "Warren left the ballroom?" With a look of confusion she slowly shook her head. "He also left his weapon at Signal so Timberwolf could take a look at it, so it probably got here around the same time. Oh, right. You probably don't know who that is...Timberwolf is a smith from outside the kingdoms, he came to Signal for a short visit. He just messaged me to let me know that he sent my weapon over about an hour ago, he just forgot to mention it. He probably sent Warren's over as well. Why did you ask it like...?"

Understanding dawned across her face before it was chased away with a blush, "Oh! You thought, we were going to meet up? We just met! I don't like him like that! Not that I like him at all! Oh! I don't hate him! He's nice and stood up for me and-"

Velvet continued to stumble across her explanation as she started to gesture more and more frantically before Ozwald couldn't take it anymore and broke down in hysterical laughter. Eventually she turned away and grumbled to herself, "I swear you are as bad as Coco." The comment sent him further into his fit of laughter as she huffed and waited for him to finish. Oz wiped away a tear as he held his gut, "Ah, hehe that was good. Heh-oooh, my stomach hurts. Ah, that was funny."

Velvet shot him a glare but to her misfortune, she still had a blush which ruined the effectiveness of her glare. [Though I am willing to bet that she doesn't have a very effective glare normally either.]

They approached the locker room and Oz opened the door for Velvet before bowing to her and in mock-seriousness stated, "Our destination M'lady." She stepped in and _**shrieked**_ before she ran from the room with her hands over her eyes. Stunned Oz watched her run before he turned and looked in the room. About halfway down the room Warren stood frozen and stared back at him. Oz coughed and excused himself before he closed the door and chased down Velvet.

-x-x-x-x-

Warren absentmindedly rubbed his ears. [Maybe stripping down to my boxers in the middle of the locker room wasn't a good idea. Even if I felt the need to make sure he didn't mess with the deployment settings...] He secured the last piece of the frame back into the locker before he pulled on his t-shirt and pants. He reached for his hoodie when he heard a knock at the door. "Enter." Oz pushed the door open and stuck his head into the room. Once he confirmed that the Faunus was clothed he turned back out the door and called out to the embarrassed girl.

"See? Told you, nothing to worry about." Velvet tentatively stepped in and barely glanced Warren's direction before her face flushed scarlet. "Don't worry. I'm leaving now." A brief nod was in his direction was his only acknowledgement as started to look for her locker while Warren headed for the door.

"Oh. Before I forget, why'd you scream? Is that the closest to naked as you've ever seen a guy?" Velvet froze and didn't even turn to face him. She then shouted as she dashed off deeper in the locker room. "You're worse than Coco. The absolute WORST!" Oz frowned at him as Warren shrugged and shouted back, "Thank you~!" He then turned back to the other boy, offered him a sarcastic salute, and headed off to bed.

-x-x-x-x-

The next morning the perspective hunters were told to collect their weapons and head to the locker room. From there they would be lead to the Emerald Forest were the initiation would take place. The morning passed mostly without incident. Velvet avoided Warren like the plague, which eventually drew Coco's attention. As the teenagers left the locker room, Coco took the chance to corner Ozwald and interrogate him. "Ow ow, come on Coco! Let go of my arms! Owowowow!" Coco pulled his arms farther up his back as she leaned in and slowly repeated herself.

"It is quite simple Oz. Just tell me what happened last night when you escorted Velvet to the locker room. She's not avoiding you but she blushes every time she sees you. And yet she is completely ignoring Warren. Very rude, right? Velvet is never rude. So. What. Happened?"

With each of the last three words she tightened her grip which caused Ozwald to wince. "Ok I give! I'll talk!" She immediately released her grip as Oz started to rub his wrists, "Jeez Coco, we are probably going to fight something today. I need my arms." Coco started to advance on him her purse held threateningly. "Ok! So Warren's weapon also arrived last night and when Velvet and I walked in he was standing there in just his boxers removing some kind of armor that he had on. The armor he's wearing right now actually, wait why did he strip down if he can wear it atop his clothes? Arg, besides the point. Okay so, Velvet freaked out and he teased her about it! That's all!" Coco stopped as she considered his words. "Hm. Must have been a good view for her to react so badly."

"Not sure. I had already taken most of my armor back off if that helps any. I asked her if that was the closest to being naked that she'd ever seen a guy." The bored explanation came from Warren, apparently he heard their discussion and walked over. Or he had watched the whole time while Coco twisted Oz's arms behind his back. A scowl crossed Oswald's features at the the likelihood of the second possibility.

"I would have continued with, 'This time was a freebie, next time will cost you.' But she ran off screaming about how I was the worst."

A conflicted look between shock and awe found its way into Coco's expression before she shook her head. "Ok you pushed that a little too far. But it must have been hilarious. So! Don't do it again."

This brought the Faunus to a halt as he looked at her and cocked an eyebrow at her while she continued. "Velvet is my friend. So I expect you to apologize at some point. Or else."

Scoffing, Warren spread his arms in a mocking fashion as he retorted. "Or else what, Coco Adel? Incase you've forgotten I took down over half of the aura of one of OUR peers in a single strike. Did you also forget that Oz told you that the reason I was in the locker room was to check on the rest of my weapon?" Oz and Coco both came to a full stop as they stared at him. He beat Jayde without his entire weapon on hand? They noticed that he had several pieces of armor on. The separate segments of armor stood out quite noticeably. Each segment was thicker than most armor needed to be. The pieces around his chest and on his back were especially complex and had extensive coverage. If all the pieces could expand, he'd practically be in a full suit of armor. It was at that point the noticed that even his gauntlets were attached atop his clothing, while yesterday he had them under his sleeves.

"So again I ask-" Warren turned to them, his mocking nature disappeared and his tone dropped to a lethal seriousness, "Or. Else. **What**?" They stared each other down before Warren smirked, "Exactly." With that he turned and walked away. Coco fumed as she muttered to Oz before she turned away herself, "What an ass." Before Oz could reply Warren called out from across the crowd, "Stop staring at it then!"

Most conversations stopped, the volume that he spoke at distracted them from their personal talks. "If you can't keep your eyes off my ass I might publicly call you out on it! Oh, wait. I just did." Coco whirled about and glared at him as he disappeared around the other students with a superior smirk on his face. "He has a point you know." Coco's glare turned to surprise as Velvet walked up to them. "I didn't think about it last night but...he only fought Jayde with his gauntlets. He is called, 'The Black **Armored** Wolf', so it would make sense that his weapon is a full suit of armor. I'd imagine it would drain his aura faster than just the gauntlets but...Just imagine the amount of power he'll be able to put behind his attacks. It's terrifying to think about. If his semblance is anything offensive he might be able to go toe-toe with a fully licensed huntsmen already." Coco growled and stormed off. Apprehensively Velvet turned to Oz with a conflicted look on her face. "When I saw Coco picking on you, (she ignored his objection) I came over to stop her but ended up overhearing everything."

Her rabbit ears had drooped as she ran her hand across one of them self consciously. Oz patted her on the shoulder which made her start slightly as she looked back up to his easy grin. "I don't blame you. Coco was just looking out for a friend and I have a huge amount of respect for that. In any event, it looks like we are almost there. So for now we focus. This is what we trained for. This is the start of everything we want to achieve." He glanced over to her and let the seriousness drop as he added with a mischievous grin, "We will worry about the embarrassing stuff and how to plot our vengeful pranks later, deal?"

-x-x-x-x-

"Good morning students." Glynda started. She looked around at the 32 students assembled before her and professor Ozpin. "I hope you slept well and are properly prepared for you initiation. By now I am certain you have heard certain rumors about the assignment of teams. Well allow us to put those to rest. Each of you will be assigned teams. Today." There were a few mumbles but everyone stayed on their individual platforms spaced along the edge of the cliff.

Professor Ozpin spoke up, "These team members will be with you for your next four years at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with people that you can work well with." He paused and took a sip of his coffee as more murmurs of discontent broke out. A barely contained smirk of amusement was hidden by the mug as he added, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after you have landed will be your partner for the next four years."

"WHAT!?"  
"You gotta be-"  
"No way!"  
"Oh jeez."

Ozpin continued his explanation and blatantly ignored their protests. "Once paired you will make your way north through the forest. There you will find a ruin will several relics. You will take one, and only one, before you make your way to the top of the cliff. Once there you relic will be assessed, and you will be graded accordingly. You will encounter opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path...or you **WILL** die." Everyone went silent as they realized he was serious. This would be a live combat situation, from which they might not walk away from. Unnoticed by the students his slight grin had returned. [Oh, how I enjoy this.]

"Now I hope each of you have planned an appropriate landing strategy for your deployment. Any questions?" Several students raised their hands as Warren called out, "Can I-"

"Good! Begin." The first student was launched as Warren finished his question, "...go last." Ozpin looked at him as he sipped his drink. "Mr. Marune, why would you want that?"

Warren shrugged as one after another his classmates were launched from the top of the cliff. "If I get launched last I can keep an eye out for the people who made good impressions on me to try and land near them to increase our odds at being on the same team." Ozpin nodded and sipped his drink without comment as Liz spoke up.

"But at the same time, you also want the people next to you to be people you like as they are most likely to land near the same time and possibly the same place...but that depends on each person's landing strategy and how long they can maintain their air time." Liz smiled at Velvet and Fae on either side of her.

Ozpin nodded, "Good points both of you. But remember, even if you aim for the same location as someone else, the first few person who land can end up at the location that someone else lands. Resulting in an immediate pairing." Liz crouched with a grin before she was launched. "Should we avoid fighting other students?"

Everyone still on the cliff shot a nervous look at Warren. He rolled his eye as he added, "I would imagine Jayde would love to run into me in the forest, but if kicking his ass again results in me being expelled I'll...refrain from doing so. Within reason."

The few students that remained swiveled their gaze over to the headmaster which prompted a sigh from the man. "Like I said. Do not hesitate to destroy everything the **obstructs** your path. That being said, we are also monitoring each of you to evaluate your performance. Even if you end up fighting remember...the Grimm care not for your petty squabbles. Their only desire is to see to the deaths of each and every one of us." Warren nodded solemnly. His mood soured as his thoughts turned to fighting the Grimm. Those monsters that took everything from him. Next to him a boy he hadn't he hadn't been introduced to was launched.

War spoke, "CANA engage primary combat systems and mobility assist, while keeping all other systems disabled. Give timer on HUD until for 40% energy remaining." With that he was launched above the forest. As he soared through the air he considered were he saw people land. With a sigh he decided, [Screw it. Other than Jayde I don't care who I am paired with.] He fired several propulsion rounds to slow his descent as he angled for a tree. At the last moment he fired a couple of rounds in quick succession, before he dug his gauntlets into the tree trunk and cut gouges down the tree until he slowed to a stop. Time to get started.


	5. Chapter 05: Into the Forest

Chapter 05: Into the Forest

Ozwald soared through the air. The shields on each hand spun as the adjusted them and fired from several of the barrels along the edge. He practically came to a full stop mid air before gravity took over again. Twice more he stopped himself before he landed with a muted thud. Satisfied with his landing he looked around. It was still early morning and while they were only provided with minimal directions, he doubted that this...test was supposed to last the full day. He watched a few more students get launched when he shrugged and started to head north.

-x-x-x-x-

Liseran cartwheeled out of control as she filled the air with laughter. She fired each time her trident aimed at the ground, but she didn't make her weapon with this scenario in mind. And since she did not aim perfectly perpendicular to the ground, she continued to spin out of control through the air. [This is something to think about. Maybe some kind of extra propulsion in each prong of the trident?] Her next shot mostly canceled her out of control spinning so she flipped the blade down as she continued to descend. As she drew close to a tree she closed her eyes and forced her aura prepared to take the brunt of the hit if she timed it incorrectly.

As she reached the first tree, she jumped off, and fired propulsion rounds as fast as her weapon could. She jumped from tree to tree and managed to slow down enough to jump to the ground and roll to a stop. Standing with a grumble she stretched out her legs. Her aura took the brunt of the impact from each leap but she still felt pins and needles. The extra propulsion was definitely something to look into. Or at the very least, a faster fire rate while in the trident form. She froze as a growl came from behind her. A sigh escaped her as she amended her previous thought. [It is something to look into...assuming I survive.] Her eyes turned red as she spun her weapon with a flourish. "Here grimmy, grimmy, grimmy. Let little Liz here Tag you~. Then you'll be it and I can avoid you~. Pwease~" A roar split the air as the Grimm charged out of the brush.

-x-x-x-x-

Fae soared through the air, her pistols fired repeatedly to keep her aloft. They weren't great in terms of movement, but they could fire in rapid succession which more than made up for it...she hoped. [Well worst case scenario I land horribly and shatter my legs and am left easy prey for the Grimm that roam the forest. A quick death would be….preferable? Since when is death a preferable outcome?]

Fae shook her head as she dropped closer to the trees. With a careful motion she changed one of her pistols to its hatchet form. With a slash she embedded the hatchet into the tree as and fired with the pistol to slow down as she spiraled down the tree. There was a bit more 'oomph' then she would have liked when she hit the ground, but all things considered she landed safely. Fae looked around and realized she wasn't entirely sure which direction north was. She sighed. Maybe someone landed near her, it would be a quick pair up but if they knew where to go...she called out, "Hello? Did anyone land in close proximity?" A low growl emitted from ahead of her. Grimm, how unfortunate.

-x-x-x-x-

Warren jumped to another tree branch. The forest must have been ancient as these trees were enormous! Of course the farther north he went the smaller the trees got. Soon they would be unable to support his weight with his armor, and he'd have to traverse on the ground. Which would mean he would be more likely to make eye contact with someone. Crouched on a branch his ears flicked about as he tried to pinpoint the gunshots he heard earlier. The shooter had not fired another round for a while. Either they were victorious, or they were dead. His gauntlets dug into the bark as he unconsciously tightened his grip. He would NOT let the Grimm kill any-

"So are you going to at least tell me your name? We are partners now after all." Warren looked behind him and then off to the side as he spotted Coco push her way through the undergrowth. She was followed closely by the guy who was on the launch pad next to him. The guy sighed and looked over at Coco. His eyes were white and his weapons were blades that ran from his wrists to well past his elbows with knuckle dusters so he could still punch. Warren wondered if he had a gun built in there somewhere when he answered Coco's question. "Fox."

Warren suppressed a snort at his answer. With how noisy Coco was, it would be good to have someone to 'mellow' her out. Coco sighed as she turned and looked at Fox, "You don't talk much, do you?" Fox shrugged in reply as Coco sighed again in exasperation.

No point in sticking around around Warren turned and jumped to the next tree as he continued onwards. He still needed to find someone and the head to the ruins. Suddenly a thought hit him. What if someone HAD died? If anyone died already...then he might not have anyone to pair up with. With a silent curse he leapt quickly across a few trees before he dropped to the ground and took off. He had to find someone and soon.

-x-x-x-x-

Fae jumped over the Beowulf's swipe and fired both pistols to launch herself over a second Beowulf's lunge. She swapped it into the hatchet form and fired with the other pistol. The shot spun her around and she sliced through the Beowulf torso. The first one rushed forward and she blocked as she backed pedaled. The space gave her time so she could line up a shot before she fired, the creature dropped without its head. Two more Beowolves charged at her when a thunderous shot rang through the air.

The bullet shot through the first Beowulf's head, the second one's chest, and continued through the wood and gouged a hole through several trees as it passed out of Fae's line of sight. She stared at the path of destruction as she heard someone speak from behind her. "Found you~! Though I admit I may have cheated a bit. Do you have a partner yet?" Liseran walked into Fae's field of view as the other girl stared at the weapon in her hands. The trident's central blade had turned into the stock and main mechanisms for the gun while outer prongs formed a kind of support. The length of the staff, was now the barrel of what could only be described as railgun, complete with tiny dust crystals that ran the length of the barrel. She looked at Liz's green eyes and found her voice. "I haven't ran into-" the rest of Liz's statement sunk in, "Wait, cheated?"

Liseran smiled as she spun her weapon around and it turned back into the trident Fae was accustomed to. "My semblance. Tag. I can tag anything in eight colors. And then whatever is tagged is outlined in that color. Unless I can't 'directly' see it then the outline is 'colored in'. I tagged you when we first met." Fae recalled how Liz tapped the side of her hand and her eyes turned green back when they first met. Green like they were at that current point in time. "So I have a green tag?" Liz grinned, "Bingo!" Fae walked forward and stuck out her hand which Liz happy accepted as they shook. "I'm happy I got to be paired with you Fae."

"Likewise. So, inform me on how this 'Tag' works."

-x-x-x-x-

*bam* Warren blasted the head off another Beowulf and rolled to his feet to block the next strike. The pack circled around him and waited for an opportunity. He growled and rushed forward. He jumped the first monster and slammed his feet into its back before he launched himself at the next grimm. It swung too slow as Warren ripped out it's throat and fired both arm mounted guns to propel himself back and clotheslined the grimm behind him. He settled into a low stance and punched down with bang and crushed the grimm's skull into the ground. The four grimm that remained had started to circle him again when an Ursa flew backwards into the clearing.

Ozwald lept out after it and pointed at the grimm. The shields spun rapidly as they fired and riddled the Ursa with holes. The shield popped a clip from its center and Oz grabbed a new one from one of his pockets as he kicked the spent clip at a Beowulf. It backed up and watched the clip with interest as it glowed brightly before it exploded in the creature's face. One of the Beowolves charged him. He blocked with his shield, when Warren noticed his shields still spun. The spin deflected the Beowulf's striked as Oz let his arm drift down and neatly shot it through the eye.

Warren blasted one through the skull as he advanced on the last one. It reared up and tried to bite him. Warren caught its jaw and held it apart with both hands. It tried to claw at him but its attacks bounced ineffectively off his armor as he strained and ripped the creature's head apart. He panted from the exertion as he looked over to Ozwald. "I doubt it, but have you found a partner yet?" Oz nodded, and smirked. "Yup."

Disappointed Warren shrugged to hide it, "Oh well. Where are they at?" Ozwald grinned as he pointed. Warren looked behind him before it hit him. He cursed and shot Oz an irritated look when he realized that Ozwald referred to him. Oz was laughed and with a bemused grin stated, "I didn't even say behind you and you looked. Didn't know you were that gullible." Warren growled as he set off to the north. He glanced at the timer on the hud. He deactivated the systems when he wasn't in a fight but even with just the combat and mobility systems.

He only had 3 minutes and 17 seconds left till he hit the 40% energy remaining. As long as he didn't use the dust systems, navigation, life support, combat analysis, action assist- Warren sighed as the stopped the tally of systems he didn't have active. Sure each one was helpful, and he would never consider the War Suit complete until it could run all of them simultaneously for a few hours, but right not that line of thought was not helpful.

-x-x-x-x-

Glynda panned through the various camera angles on her tablet. "And with that, all pairs have been formed." She panned to another pair and made a disgruntled face. "It is sad how this year we have some of the highest scoring students, and yet at the same time some of the worst performing ones." She panned again. As Ozpin mumbled something incoherently from behind her. "I don't care that his family managed to convince the Vale Council to give him a chance. His personality, attitude, even his combat aptitude, all point to him not being a fit for our school. The only things he has going for him is he managed to inherit SOME of his grandfather's charisma and his above average aura levels."

Ozpin sighed, as Glynda panned to Liseran and Faerien. "I'm not surprised Miss Mathews tracked down Lady Vert, they seemed to get along from the interactions we've observed." Ozpin panned over to Warren and Ozwald. "And then there is these two. Something about that boy. They haven't gone close to any of the Grimm dens yet they have been attacked more than any of the other groups. Not to mention Mr. Marune is incredibly vicious in dealing with the Grimm."

Apparently she was had turned to the same pair. It was unusual...if one neglected to account for Warren's past. A past Ozpin may have neglected to inform the staff of. Unless it became a problem he would refrain from informing the teachers of the details of the student's backgrounds. Glynda knew his mother, they were friends that fell out of contact when she moved to Solaris, but she was not aware of the details of her death. Ozpin watched Warren violently end another Beowulf. His aggression towards the Grimm was troublesome. His emotions will draw them and his emotional state will only grow more unstable the longer he fought. Then again he survived for years outside the kingdoms on his own, so he had to have some method of that let him deal with his emotions. But as the test dragged on he obviously turned more unstable.

Was it the burden of responsibility for another's life? In any case, Ozwald would be a good partner for him. All of his recommendations spoke highly of his patience and willingness to help others. With the right team, Ozpin had no doubt Warren would make a great huntsman. Provided of course, they lived that long.

-x-x-x-x-

Ozwald pushed through the undergrowth into a open field. At the far end of the field was a stone structure of some kind. He waved Warren over and pointed. Warren snuck over to where Ozwald was and looked at the structure. In a low tone he asked, "Think those are the ruins?" Oz shrugged and took one last look around before he headed across the field. They agreed that if the instructors or observers or whomever monitored them were not impressed with their fights thus far, they likely would never be. Thus they attempted to avoid additional Grimm. They drew close to the decrepit structures and noticed the pedestals scattered in a semi-circle with stone tablets on them.

Well, all but one pedestal had a tablet. Warren was impressed. For all the fights, and the time it took to find his partner, not to mention the slow progress when they decided to avoid additional confrontation, they were the second team there. That...was pretty good. The tablets all had a line across the center with a number of indentations on the top and bottom. Ozwald looked back and asked which one to take. Warren responded with a shrug and grabbed the closest tablet. "That works. Let's get to the top of that cliff." Ozwald pointed to the cliff a bit farther north of the ruins. To which Warren objected. "We are supposed to climb the cliff we were dropped from!"

Ozwald grinned, "Trust the local would ya? Its the same cliff, it runs parallel to the Emerald Forest. We were told to make our way across the forest to the ruins but we were never told to take the same way back. Most Grimm stay in the forest as passing air ships take shots at lone Grimm out in the open." Warren thought about it then agreed. It certainly sounded like a good plan. His time read at 3 seconds remaining before he reached the 40% remaining. For them to have almost finished, he was rather happy with the usage. Even if he had yet to use most of the systems.

-x-x-x-x-

Some time later Liz and Fae walked through the forest as they discussed Lis' semblance. "Tag's limit is my visual limit. The larger the marked item is the farther away I can see it. Just like how you can't see bugs and stuff really far away but you can still see the tree they are crawling on." Fae pondered it and came up with another question, "What if the Tagged item breaks?" Liz grinned, "Then I see a bunch of colorful little pieces."

They moved past some foliage and entered a large field with some stone structures visible in the distance. "So who else have you managed to tag?" Liz stuck out her tongue and said, "Sorry. Just you."

Fae looked at her with a mix of surprise and shock. "Why only me?" Liz shrugged as the crossed the field and noted another pair already at the ruins. "Well you were really nice and I wanted to get to see if the legend was true!" Fae gave her a deadpan stare as she replied in monotone. "It is just a myth." Liz practically sang her response, "A myth that has yet to be proven false~" Fae gave a very un-lady like groan before she started to mutter a string of curses under her breath.

As they approached the ruins they saw a guy and girl pair start to run towards them. Gunshots rang out behind them as they spotted yet another pair make their way into the field...chased by a very large number of Grimm. The tanned girl with black hair they spotted at the ruins ran past them. Wait, not black hair. Just a really dark blue. "Grab your relic! Hurry!"

The two charged the other group as Fae and Liz watched. The hoard of grimm continued to grow as more and more Grimm poured out of the forest. Fae turned to Liz. "Help them, use your gun, I'll grab the relic." With that she took off towards the ruins. Liz sighed as she spun her trident as it shifted, the supports extended and impaled the ground for support. The first thunderous round tore through the Grimm and killed several of them. Liz waited for the mechanism to reset before she fired again. She could take several out with a single shot, but at the rate they rushed out of the tree line...it would only be a matter of time till they were overwhelmed. Where did all these Grimm come from?

-x-x-x-x-

Oz reached up and for a moment his hand grabbed at nothing but air. Puzzled he looked up and realized he reached the top of the cliff. He gave a short laugh as he pulled himself up completely out of breath. He looked over at Warren and cursed, "Thanks for your help, partner." Warren glanced over and shot the other boy a smug smirk at the fact that he wasn't even winded. He turned his attention back to Glynda who typed away on her tablet. "And there we go. All done. Congratulations."

She nodded at them. Oz gave her thumbs up as he groaned out, "So glad we don't have to walk all the way back to the start." Warren scoffed and replied with, "You need to work on your endurance if you are already tired."

"Something, something, something, witty comeback. Ha. Victory." Warren looked at Oz with a raised eyebrow. "Too tired to actually think of a witty comeback. So shut up." Glynda sighed which drew both of their attention. "What's wrong?" Glynda looked at, no she glared at Warren. Oz was confused when she answered, "Something or someONE-" Oz decided he did not like the way she emphasized that while looking at Warren, "-disturbed the Grimm. A large number of them have cornered several pairs near the ruins. We may have to step in but that would invalidate their scores."

She turned away and touched and earpiece, "Qrow what is the status of the Goliath?...What. What do you mean you lost track of-Damn it Qrow! Deal with the Death Stalkers and find it!" Warren froze. A Goliath? In the woods? He couldn't take one of them out. It was likely none of the applicants could. He looked back at Oz, concern etched on his features. And just like that a solution occurred to him. "Professor Goodwitch, Ozwald and I have already passed, correct?" Glynda looked over at Warren but nodded all the same. "Excellent! CANA, activate mobility assist and action assist. Full suit engagement. Leave other systems inactive and prepare combat systems activation."

He waited as the suit expanded and fully covered his limbs. The helmet shut over his face and the HUD initialized. "Next, mark target as ally. Designation, Ozwald Marigold. Then activate Overdrive Protocol on all active systems."

His aura covered the armor as Oz stepped forward, and passed him one of his shields. "With my Semblance I'll be able to keep track of you as long as you have that, as well as help you remotely." Warren gave a two fingered salute as he replied, "Try to keep up." With that he launched himself off the cliff. Oz jumped after him as the made their way back to the ruins. Briefly he wondered who they were off to save. [Probably should have asked Professor Goodwitch that before we left...]

Warren ran full tilt back towards the ruins. He jumped to a tree branch and swung himself up into the air before he used the suit's propulsion to clear the treeline. [Come on where is...there!] Not to far off to the right was some of the large slabs of stone that marked the ruins. As he fell, a few more rounds fired to lighten the impact as he took off in the right direction. He heard a loud gunshot and shortly after that he heard the others shouts and gunfire. There were several dozen Grimm that filled the clearing. Creeps, Beowolves, Ursas, a few small Death Stalkers, and in the thick of it was a Goliath. The massive Grimm stampeded towards the groups that had banded together to fight and forced them to scatter. The smaller Grimm surged after the ones who were separated before they could regroup. Warren growled out, "CANA, all combat systems online, maintain Overdrive protocol." There was a pause before he felt the systems activate. It reminded him of the time he tried to help his mother fight after his father-

Warren's blood ran cold as a knot settled in the pit of his stomach. Before he knew it he was surrounded by Grimm. When did they rush at him? Did he rush them? Where was that bloodcurdling scream coming from? Oh, it was him.


	6. Chapter 06: So Who is David?

A/N: Sorry for being late, so here is a chapter for both stories.

* * *

Chapter 06: So Who's David?

Liz leapt over the Goliath as it rushed their position once more. They scattered and tried to deal with the Grimm that attacked them but...there were just so damn many! She turned and fired her railgun at the back of the Goliath's head. The round penetrated, but did hardly any damage and didn't even pierce all the way through the bone plate. The Goliath roared and crashed through the ruins as it bellowed in pain. If it was just the Goliath they might be able to take it down...eventually.

But with all the other Grimm? There were just too damn many. She ducked and started to shift her weapon back into the trident form when an Ursa's swipe managed to nail her in the side. Her aura took the hit, but it still knocked her to the side. As she struggled to rise, a Beowulf loomed over her and poised to swipe when an ear shattering cry split the air. The shout was filled with rage, pain, fear, and every Grimm immediately turned and charged towards the source of the cry. Liseran used her trident as a crutch as she pulled herself to her feet. Fae was at her side and helped her up. But the other girl's terrified gaze never wavered, [What is she staring at?] Liz followed her line of sight and her jaw dropped.

-x-x-x-x-

Glynda shouted into her earpiece, "What do you mean you 'feared as much'!?" Ozpin's face on her tablet remained as composed as ever as he sipped at his coffee.

"It it quite apparent. That young man spent years in the wilderness. Alone. The only contact he had with other people was for materials and supplies to survive and continue his parent's work. But why go to such lengths to continue their work? He acts obligated, if not forced to continue their work. Yet he also shuns all contact even though others may be able to help complete it. I only knew that after his parents lost their lives he started to travel alone. However it's obvious that he blames himself and carries on their work as penance. Since entering the forest and being responsible for another person's life and survival, he clearly displayed a decaying amount of self control. And since a large horde of Grimm pushed him over the edge, it is not difficult to hazard a guess what happened to his parents. "

"He has snapped Ozpin! All the Grimm stopped attacking the others entirely! His distraught emotional state has drawn their full attention."

"He went back into the forest of his own volition Glynda. The choice and the consequences are his."

-x-x-x-x-

Warren tore through the Grimm even in the most literal sense. Dust-fueled flames poured from his claws as he ripped them to pieces. One of the monsters managed to hit him, he wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't sent him through the air. He flipped and landed in the tree line. Immediately the flames went out and he sank into the shadows on the ground. The Grimm rushed him and he disappeared from view. A Beowulf pounced and crashed into the ground. It pawed at the ground in confusion when Warren's claws came out of the shadow and slammed into its face before vanishing back into the shadows. He reappeared under an Deathstalker as he fired round after round of dust fueled bullets. His breath came out in ragged gasps as he moved to continue his attack.

-x-x-x-x-

Liz seemed to snap out of it as she called out to the others. "Quickly everyone, if you haven't already, grab your relic! Start picking off the weaker Grimm! Once we've taken all of them out we'll focus on the Goliath!" One of the guys she didn't know stepped forward as he shouted in disbelief. "You want us to do what!? We should get the hell out of here while we can!"

Liz glared at him and she readied her railgun. "He just saved our lives. I don't know how he did it and I don't care. I'm not about to abandon him fight these Grimm alone!" There was a brief moment of hesitation as the others decided. Gunshots rang out all around her as she heard someone grumble, "We better get extra credit or something if we manage to kill that thing."

-x-x-x-x-

Qrow looked over at Glynda with a questioning glance, a glance she returned with a glare. Qrow raised his hands in surrender as he spoke, "What? I was just wondering if they would actually get extra credit." Glynda rolled her eyes with a light groan. "I still say you should help them." Qrow stretched as he flippantly replied, "Naw they pretty much got this. I mean as long as that pup holds their attention they have a chance to come up with a plan. Plus that purple girl with the sniper can actually hurt that thing. With a few well placed shots they might be able to immobilize it and kill it."

"Qrow." He scoffed as he drank from his flask, and leaned his scythe against his side. "You worry too much. See?" He gestured to his weapon. "I'm ready to get in there and be serious. If things get worse I'll step in."

Glyinda groaned again as she looked back to the display, [I really don't want to know what he'll consider worse. As long as he steps in before someone dies…]

-x-x-x-x-

Oz jogged through the trees. He was able to hear gunshots but he kept his pace constant. If he sprinted there, showed up out of breath and exhausted...he would be no help to anyone. He closed his eyes and used his Semblance again. Almost there, excellent. Warren was still on his rampage. Ah, a Beowulf is about to attack from behind him. Oz hit a few controls on his gauntlet and the shield on Warren's back re-oriented and fired. The Beowulf dropped and before Oz could continue to fire, several Grimm close to Warren also dropped dead. Oz heard the gunshots as he continued onwards.

[The others must be nearby and giving him covering fire.] He decided he was close enough and started to run as he broke out of cover into the field. There were about a dozen Grimm left as well as the Goliath. He grabbed one of the shields off his back and a stack of ammunition clips from one of his pockets. The clips clicked into place in a slot on the bottom of the shield as he tossed it. As it spun it deployed spikes from the underside of the shield. Suspended a few feet from the ground the shield spun and started to fire. He repeated the process for the other two shields on his back before he charged the Goliath.

-x-x-x-x-

Liz shot another Grimm, their number was almost depleted. Ozwald ran up from somewhere and threw on of his shields to the ground when it expanded and started to fire at the Grimm. [His shields are deployable turrets!? That is so cool! I have to ask him how he came up with that!]

A few more shots from the group of trainees and the last of the lesser Grimm fell to the hail of bullets. As Oz dropped his last turret/shield thing, the others looked to Warren. Well, more specifically the giant Grimm that Warren rode as he tried to claw it to pieces while it bashed through the ruins try and knock him loose. The Goliath charged under an archway that was at just the right height to slam into Warren and knock him off the Goliath. Aqua and her partner quickly engaged the Goliath as the others grouped around Warren.

War slowly stood as he panted for air. He took a shaky step forward before he turned started to walk towards the Goliath. "Warren, wait. We need a plan."

-x-x-x-x-

Oz went to place a hand on Warren's shoulder when the other boy twisted violently, his fist flew towards Ozwald when a propulsion round fired from his wrist and stopped the punch inches from striking Oz in the face.

"No one else dies." The others around them mumbled incoherently behind him but Oz tuned them out and continued undeterred as he pushed Warren's fist out of the way and punched his chest plate.

"Duh, that is the starting point for every good plan, don't die. Right now we need a plan to make IT die."

Warren stared at Ozwald for several moments. Liseran watched them closely when Fae made an observation, "My Oum, Warren you're bleeding!"

The others started as they looked at his damaged armor. Sure enough, on his side his armor was rent open. Comparatively it was a small tear in the metal, but the fact that the monsters had damaged the armor to that point and managed to cut him through the aura spoke volumes of the amount of punishment he collected. She marched up in front of him and stated, "Your Aura is obviously nearly depleted. Armor. Off. NOW."

He glared at her and curtly replied, "No. I need it to kill that thing-"

Liseran interrupted, "Actually you've barely even hurt the thing. I probably have the best chance at killing it. Plus those two have been doing just fine at distracting it on their own." Everyone spared Aqua and her partner a quick glance before their gaze returned to the armored faunus. War groaned and complied. The armor opened and retracted which showed holes in his clothes where the monsters had managed to rip through the armor. Fae started to check his injuries as Warren started to call out to the others, "Ok. I have a rough plan. Who has earth dust?"

Oz raised his hand as Warren winced and glared at Fae when she poked a particular sore spot. "Good. Ozwald start making a hole. Leave a cover on it so we can run over it but thin enough so that thing will bust through when it follows. Do it in the ruins so it can't see you working. We need it deep enough to trap the thing to score a killing blow." Oz grinned recklessly as he saluted and ran off. Warren paused a moment then sighed as he said,

"Someone besides Liz go be his look out so he doesn't get himself killed." One of the guys with rustic colors ran off to follow Oz. Warren gestures to the girl who was paired with him. "Hi sorry, didn't get your name. Can you let the two over there know that we need you three to keep playing bait? Keep it busy till Liz and Oz are ready with the trap then lure it over to them."

She rolled her eyes as she drawled, "Sure, it's Ube, by the way." With a wave she ran off towards the 'bait' group.

Lis bounced in place as she asked, "So what is my part?" Before Warren could answer Fae interrupted, "Ok! Hold still." Her aura glowed bright green as she gently touched his injuries. The bruises slowly faded as the shallow cuts stopped bleeding before they too closed and started to fade. To their continued surprise even his clothes were mended. "Great Oum, how are you doing that?"

She made a face and stopped as she put her hand to her forehead. "My semblance. I'll explain later but when I use it on a person, I can only us it to heal them."

[What? Nevermind, later. When we aren't all in danger of dying.]

He engages the gauntlets and asks, "Cana using emergency secondary power what is the duration of usage if only pure combat functions are used on currently engaged pieces?"

"I'm sorry to report, only 43 seconds." Warren winced and pulled out his scroll. He checked the screen and sighed. "Ok Liz! Your part is to shoot it till it dies. Is there anything we can do to boost your shots?"

Liz laughed before she gave him a coy grin, "Got any lightning dust?"

-x-x-x-x-

Ozwald had just finished up the trap when he heard Liz call down to them, "I'm ready up here!" Oz grinned and nodded to Russet. Russet fired a dust round into the air where it exploded. The distraction team changed directions and started to lead the Goliath towards the trap. As an extra measure, he placed a few of his clips along the edges of the trap. Once the Goliath fell through he'd detonate them and hopefully, trap it in the pit long enough to Liz to fire enough rounds to kill it.

According to Liz the extra dust could be used for three super charged shots. She didn't use a lot of Dust as apparently too much would damage the rifle. But in the end, it was her weapon so they trusted her to know it best. Aqua, Ube, and Zaffre crossed the cover of the trap with the Goliath hot on their heels.

As Warren watched he swore silently to himself, [They are cutting it too close!] A moment later, he was proven right. The lid broke as the Goliath fell the into the pit. Luckily Warren was prepared for this. Aqua managed to get clear and Ube used her weapon to propel herself out. Warren dropped after Zaffre and tossed him out before he disappeared into the shadows on the rock wall. Oz waited on baited breath as the beast fell. As soon as he spotted Warren pop out of a shadow on the surface he hit the detonator. The sides of the pit exploded and tumbled into trap after the Grimm when-

-a huge bang filled the air, akin to artillery fire from an Atlas airship. The shockwave from Liz's gunshot cleared the dust in the air. The students looked at the Grimm. It's head was still visible about a foot below ground level, it's skull plate visibly cracked in half. Liz fired the second thunderous round as they watched the bone plate on its head shatter. Everyone held their breath as she loaded the last shot. The Goliath struggled to break free, but with its limbs buried it was a futile effort. The last shot rang out and pierced through it's skull. The creature started to dissolve into shadows as Oz sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned back. The others started to cheer and celebrate.

A shadow fell over him as someone stood over him. He opened his eyes to see Liseran's cheerful face and a beaming smile. Oz chuckled and called out to Warren, "I know we passed before coming back but do you think we'll get extra credit for that?" Warren chuckled as the others fell silent. Liz snapped out of her shock first as she cried out, "We need to finish the test!" Without a pause to see if Fae followed she raced of to the cliff face beyond the ruins. Quickly the others made to do the same as Ozwald and Warren broke down into hysterical laughter.

* * *

AN: For those who missed it. The title of this chapter? It is because they faced a Goliath. Like the...Greek myth? Great. Is that one Greek or Roman? David vs. Goliath.

Also

Zaffre(Deep blue) Ladon, Ube(light purple) Erzulie, Russet(dark brown/ reddish orange) Pontus, and Aqua (means water and is a light blue color) Galantaea. Kudos to anyone who can guess the team name. Before the next chapter at least.


	7. Chapter 07: Team Building

Chapter 07: Team Building

Back at Beacon the students stood off stage as Ozpin called their names and announced the name of each team as well as the leader.

"Warren Marune, Ozwald Marigold, Liseran Mathews, and Faerien'Diaz Von-Vert."

[Looks like it is our turn.] Warren thought as they stepped out onto the stage with the others. When he saw the piece that Liz and Fae recovered he figured they'd be on the same team. Looked to be that his guess was spot on.

"The four of you retrieved the 1/4 domino pieces. From this day forth, you work together as as...Team WOLF, lead by...Warren Marune!"

The crowd cheered as the newly formed team nodded and walked off stage. All the while Warren silently raged to himself, [Team WOLF!? Really!? Come, ON!]

"Aqua Galantaea, Zaffre Ladon, Ube Erzulie, and Russet Pontus. The four of you retrieved the 2/2 domino pieces. From this day forth, you will be known as...Team AZUR(azure), lead by...Aqua Galantaea!"

While the crowd cheered for the team, Liz noticed that Ozwald looked especially pleased and decided to tease her new team member. "Oh? You look especially happy that Aqua ended up as team leader. Is it possible that…" Liz gave a short pause before she grinned and drew out the length of each of the words, "You~ like~ her~?"

Oz jumped at her proclamation but before he could offer rebuttal Fae cut in, "Oh that is no good! What if Coco found out? She seems like the jealous type." Fae nodded sagely as Ozwald sputtered in shock. Warren grinned under his hood, glad that Ozwald was the target of their teasing instead of himself. Before he could come up with a reply Ozpin called out, "Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina, Yatsuhashi Daichi. The four of you retrieved the notated 2/3 domino pieces. From this day forth you will be known as...Team CFVY(Coffee)! Lead by, Coco Adel!"

"Speak of the devil..." Oz muttered out loud at the formation of Team CFVY. Warren watched the newly formed team make their way off stage to join the other teams. At that point Warren stopped paying attention. He was exhausted from their encounters in the Emerald Forest. He was ready to get his room assignment and crash. Tomorrow he'd look over the War Suit and make repairs as needed.

-x-x-x-x-

Warren seemed completely out of it. He didn't even react when Coco cheered when she found out that there were mixed dorms and that they bunked based off team formations. Oz was about to get concerned about his leader when a sly voice spoke out next to his ear as he felt two soft objects press into his back. "To bad I found Fox instead of you. Although I don't think Yatsu and Velvs would appreciate us keeping them awake, all. Night. Long."

Oz jumped away from Coco which prompted her to start to pout. "What's the matter loverboy? I thought you offered me a ride?" Oz groaned as Liz broke down into hysterical laughter. Fae offered him a sympathetic look but ultimately left him to his fate.

"You are never going to let that go are you?"

Coco responded without a thought, "Nope! Would you rather I stop?"

"Yes." His immediate response prompted Coco lowered her shades as she gave him a look that asked, 'Really?'

"Fine. I can admit it was funny. The first time. But that's it."

"Good enough for me! I'll stop bringing our first time up. But you're not getting away that easily, loverboy." Coco turned and sauntered away as Oz just stared at her in disbelief. After a few seconds he shook his head and muttered to himself as he ignored the roaring laughter around him, "I...just. Don't. Care anymore."

-x-x-x-x-

Liz woke up. With a yawn she stretched and sat up. She cast her gaze around the room and looked at the luggage piled at the foot of her bed. Puzzled she tilted her head as she stared at the unfamiliar bags. The door to their room opened as Oz stepped in shirtless. Apparently he just got out of the shower, as he dried his hair. When he moved the towel and saw Liz awake he froze in surprise. "Ah..."

Liz waved cheerfully as she climbed out of bed and stretched once more. Completely surprised by her nonchalant attitude he spoke hesitantly.

"Um...m-mornin'?"

With a cheerful bounce Liz replied, "Good morning! Where are the showers?"

"There is a shower in each room's bathroom but there is also dorm showers. I didn't want to wake anyone so…" Oz pointed out of the room as Liz looked to the other beds and spotted her luggage. [Ah~ well we DID kinda just collapse in any open bed…]She moved over to her bags and started to dig through it for a change of clothes. Oz coughed and turned away as clothes went flying. Warren groaned and sat up. He blinked groggily at Liseran before he inquired, "What are you doing in my luggage?"

"This is my stuff, see?" Much to the two boys' embarrassment Liz held up a bra. "No one looked for their stuff last night we all just kinda fell in any open bed so..." She grabbed a few more items before she walked to the door and waved again, "Bye! Be back in a bit!"

Warren stared after her for a few moments before he looked at Oz and asked, "What the hell?"

"...I have no idea."

"Screw it." Warren flopped back down as their last team member groaned.

"Ung. I request that you turn off the lights. 5 more minutes..." Fae rolled over and curled up into a ball under the blankets.

Oz chuckled to himself as he thought, [We'll looks like we found out very quickly who the morning people on the team are...] He walked over to Fae's bed and pulled a shirt out of his luggage. He grinned when she grumbled something about the noise and pulled the blankets tighter around herself.

After he got fully dressed he made his way over to one of the four desks in the room and started to look through it. One of the drawers had a note addressed to 'first year student'. It explained that they'd have this first day to themselves to explore the school and to settle into their rooms. It also told them that their schedule was sent to their scrolls and to consult it for the location and times of their classes.

He pulled out his scroll and started to look at his schedule. It didn't list his classmates but it was likely he would be in the same classes as his teammates. Maybe even Team AZUR and Team CFVY. As if summoned by his thoughts he heard a panicked shout, "COCO, WHAT THE HELL!?"

Warren leapt out of bed in a panic while Fae flailed wildly and tumbled off the bed. Warren and Oz both just stared at her as she straightened herself and sat up. "Okay. I changed my mind. I DON'T like her."

Oz howled with laughter as Liz walked in the room. She looked at Oz who was clutching his sides with laughter as Fae slowly stood and dumped her blankets back on the bed. Warren acted like nothing was out of the ordinary, which so far seemed very true. "Why were you on the fl-"

"Coco." Fae interjected with a flat tone to Liseran's unfinished question.

"-ah. Yeah, that was loud." Oz burst into a fresh bout of laughter as he fell out of his chair. Liz looked at the others to see Fae and Warren completely ignore him so she shrugged and did the same. With the others finally awake they quickly re-arranged the luggage so each person's personal effects were next to their bed. Fae and Warren went to their respective bathrooms to take their showers while Liz started to unpack.

"So when is today's classes?"

Despite the fact that he knew the answer Ozwald asked her instead, "What makes you think I know?"

That brought her to a stop as looked over at him and after a moment deadpanned, "Wow. I didn't think you actually knew. You have a really bad poker face." An indifferent shrug rolled off his shoulders as he replied. "I'll take it as a compliment. It is not really a good thing to be a good liar."

With a sly smirk she replied, "If you don't ever wanna win at poker, sure. By the way I'll be sure to tell Coco to rope you into a game of strip poker for lying to me~!"

Ozwald froze as he imagined the numerous issues that would arise from that scenario playing out. He gave a pathetic whimper shortly after the door opened.

As he returned from his shower, Warren paused in the doorway at the sound and looked over at Oz who had turned to stare at Liz. "Please, PLEASE, don't do that."

"When is today's classes?"

Ozwald hurriedly gushed out his response, "There are no classes today, we have the day to settle in. Classes start tomorrow 9am. Please, please, PLEASE don't give Coco ideas."

Unsure as to what the hell was going on, Warren slowly turned his questioning gaze to Liseran as the door closed behind him, "Do I want to know?" The girl shrugged with a mischievous smirk as she looked at Oz. "I don't~ know~ hey Oz~? Should I tell our esteemed leader-"

"I'll give you my desert for the next three days."

Liz turned back Warren and stated, "Nope! Nothing important."

Warren shrugged and muttered, "Whatever." As he grabbed a few tools from his bag. He made for the door and paused. "Hm. We probably should exchange scroll numbers, huh?" The door opened once more as Fae walked in as Liz replied.

"Yeah! I already have Coco's, Aqua's, Velvet's, Fae's and Oz's! I should get yours too!" Dumbfound the team stared at her before Warren managed to snap out of it and asked, "When did you-"

"The slumber party in the ballroom." He paused and considered it then shrugged. They quickly exchanged numbers and War flipped his hood up before mentioning he was going to the workshop. Liz left as she said something about getting the remaining members of CFVY's and AZUR's numbers.

Oz was pulling random items out of his bags as he 'personalized' his space. After a while he noticed that Fae sat at her desk as she wrote something.

"What'cha writin'?"

Faerien gave a slight start as she glanced over to Ozwald. "Ah, a letter. For back home."

"Ah? Already? To anyone in particular or...?"

"This one will be to my mother." Fae replied with a soft smile as she then gestured to the two sealed envelopes next to her. "Those are for my personal maid and butler, and I plan to write another one to the staff in general."

Oz gave a small surprised chuckle as he pulled up a chair.

"Sounds like you treat them as if they were family."

Fae stretched as she looked out the window and contemplated her response. "In a way...they are. Mother was often busy with keeping Vertile running. But she loves me and made sure I knew it." Fae smiled at a fond memory before she continued. "Charles was my butler while Mads, pardon Madison, was my maid."

"...did you really need a personal butler AND maid?"

Fae grinned and replied slightly matter-of-factly, "Yes. Madison helped me maintain my room, clothes and all problems of feminine nature."

Ozwald sighed and facepalmed. [Seriously...how often am I going to stumble into these situations?]

"Ah, that was a rather boring reaction."

With a deadpan stare, Oz looked back at Fae who shrugged innocently under his gaze before she continued. "In any event Charles managed everything else. Informing the other servants of how to take care of me, of my wants and desires," Fae laughed ruefully, "Sometimes before I myself knew about them. If there was ever a mistake or someone couldn't fill their role due to one problem or another, Charles would step in and perform it perfectly."

Oz was genuinely curious as he asked, "Like how?"

"He always knew what I was in the mood to eat, without me saying anything. Yet if the cook was out or sick, he could cook it himself. Or if Mads was, sorry Madison, was visiting her sister and a dress or shirt was torn, Charles could fix it himself."

"Sounds like a do-it-all kind of guy."

"Yes. From those duties to medicinal practices, to fighting, weapon smithing, and AI computing."

"...He is human, right?"

"Yes?"

"..."

"...who is he?"

Fae shrugged and said, "He was my father's best friend. A huntsmen. Before my father passed apparently he asked Charles to look after his, at the time, unborn child. He passed and shortly after that time I was born. Charles then retired from being a huntsmen and became my butler."

Oz took on a sorrowful look as he stated, "I'm sorry for your loss. I was being rather nosy."

"I appreciate the gesture. I never met him, but I have been told countless stories. It is a little embarrassing but the story about my parents meeting and falling in love is almost like a fairy tale."

"Well? Don't keep us waiting!"

Oz and Fae both jumped to their feet as Liz spoke up. With a glare at the girl, Oz irritably asked her, "Why can't you use the door like a normal person?"

With a laugh Liz pulled herself up into the room through the window as she replied, "I got everyone's numbers and wandered around the school when I saw you two were still in the room. I was gonna ask why you guys were still here when I heard you two talking about this Charles fella."

The door opened and Warren walked in. He looked around before he asked, "Okay. I'm here. Liz said you were talking about something important?"

Embarrassed to be the center of attention Fae blushed as Oz answered for her. "We started talking about the letters she was writing when got on the topic of her family. Liz overheard and I guess decided to call you over?"

With an enthusiastic pose Liz declared, "Sharing time is important team building!" She plopped down on her bed and scooted closer to Fae. "So? Your parents! You said it is like a fairy tale!"

Warren leaned against the wall to listen as Fae resigned herself to her fate.

"I was told that they met at Beacon. They were actually paired during the initiation and apparently it was love at first sight. Their team mates ended up being Charles and Kiara. The two of them could tell that my parents were head over heels for each other but much to their annoyance neither said anything. Mother was convinced that, following tradition, after a few short years a being a huntress she would have to return to Vertile and take over as head of the household. While father knew about his own physical condition. What ever his illness was, he was born with it. He knew that he would not live a long life so he chose to become a huntsmen to try and do as much good as he could before he died."

"They graduated and decided to go on one last mission together as a team before going their separate ways. It went terribly ary. Kiara was crippled and Charles almost died. He told me that father shouted at him, 'I refuse to leave anyone else behind! You are like a brother to me, and I would rather feed myself to the Grimm then to let you die!' Charles always said that he had a rough childhood. A street orphan, with no family to speak of. Father calling Charles his brother, meant the world to him. Together they rescued mother and Kiara and managed to escape. When they reached safety father confessed his feelings for her. She confessed and they were married."

"Less than three months later his illness rapidly progressed and mother found out she was expecting. Father asked Charles to look after his unborn child and not even a full month later he passed away."

Fae trailed off as she noticed Liz silently sobbed. She looked to the others and saw the Ozwald had red eyes and balled up tissues in his hand while Warren had pulled his hood low over his eyes.

With a sudden flurry of movement, Liseran jumped up and threw her arms around Faerien as she exclaimed, "Th-that was so tragically romantic! Love at first sight! Unrequited for four years! A night of tragedy lead to an unbreakable brotherhood and the lovers' confessions! Only to have their love cut short before their happy ending!"

Fae fidgeted and patted the other girl on the back while she mouthed to the boys, 'Help me!'

"Well, you were right. That certainly was like a fairy tale." Oz stood as he spoke, "My parents met via mutual friends, started to date, got married and had me and my two siblings. End of story."

Lis let Fae go as she leapt across the room and started to question Oz about his siblings. Motion drew her attention as she saw Warren wave from across the room. Silently he mouthed the question, "You okay?"

She nodded and looked away. "Admittedly hardly sounds truthful. When I was first told the story, I didn't believe it as it was so outlandish. I never got the chance to meet my father, so it doesn't ever seem...real. Like it is just a story about someone else."

Suddenly Warren asked in an abrupt change of subject, "So is the 'Legend of the Invincible Line of Vert' true?"

"Oh not you too!" Fae groaned loudly and drew the attention of Liz and Oz.

"Well? Is the legend true?"

Puzzled Ozwald asked, "What legend?"

Liz practically bounced in place as she raised her hand, "Ooooooh! I know! Most people just call it the Legend of Vert! Ever since the founder of Vertile, Seriona Vert, certain coincidental traits had followed the firstborn children!"

Even more confused Ozwald looked at Fae, "Like what?"

With a sigh Fae explained, "Every firstborn child, myself and my mother included have inherited the same green eyes of Seriona Vert. Additionally each of our Semblances have something to do with time. In any case the 'legend' is that the last member of the blood line is invincible. The most famous example is my grandfather. He fought against a Grimm incursion that almost breached Vertile's walls. For two days he fought without rest, taking increasingly dire injuries. He lost an eye, his left hand, and his right leg from the knee down. At dawn on the third day my mother was born and about an hour after the sun left the horizon's edge, he was struck down by one of the last remaining Grimm. They said he only survived all those injuries due to the Legend, and when my mother was born she became 'the last of the line.'"

"That's ridiculous!"

"I agree. However..."

Liz cheerfully interjected, "Even if it is just a myth...it is a myth that has yet to be proven false~. The firstborn line of Vert has yet to be broken!"

Fae sighed so Ozwald tried to turn the table on Liz, "So what about your family then?"

"Hmmm~? Which family members?"

A sinking feeling settled in his gut as he and Fae exchanged confused looks. "Let's start with immediate family, parents and siblings."

"Only child, parents are dead, next question~?"

There was a long painful silence as the three team members stared at cheerful girl who sat on the end of her bed. She shrugged and continued nonchalantly. "I was...6? Dad was a huntsmen, mom was a private detective in Vale, with close ties to the Vale Police Department."

"They met during one of mom's cases that took her outside of the city. Apparently when they first met they could not stand each other."

Chuckles came from Ozwald as Fae smiled somewhat sadly. "Anyways they continued to run into each other on odd jobs and one time dad got captured by some bandits after he wore himself out dealing with Grimm."

"Not even an hour later Mom had found the warehouse they were keeping him in, broke in freed him and radioed in for them to start the police raid."

Warren gave a low whistle before Oz commented in an off handed manner, "Wow. She must have had some serious pull with the Vale police department."

The sniper shrugged as she flopped backwards onto her bed and continued, "Dad asked her how she found him so quickly and she came clean. When they first met she planted a bug on him so she could keep track of him. At first it was as means to follow a troublemaker and make sure he didn't hurt anybody."

That brought a grin to Fae's lips that she swiftly hid behind her hand as Warren chuckled. Flabbergasted, Oz just stared at her in shock. "He must have taken that poorly."

Loudly Liseran laughed before she answered cheerfully, "No, that's the weird part! I can't remember what my uncle told me but apparently dad said something like, 'See? Even back then you knew I was quite the catch!' Whatever he said she punched him in the face and left. He spent the next few weeks doing little sweet gestures before he asked her out to dinner and they started dating. Eventually they got married and had me!"

Everyone's smiles faded as the mood in the room dropped when she finished. Quietly her partner asked, "What happened to them?"

"Dad died on a solo mission. Got killed trying to defend one of the small villages. And yeah, I know where it is. Mom tried to drown her sorrows in her work but she slipped up. Got caught by some criminals and they killed her."

A long drawn out sigh came from Liseran as her demeanor fell. Somewhat subdued she continued her story. "I was barely even six years old. I got picked up from school by one of mom's coworkers and they told my that mom wasn't coming home either. I got shipped to Minstrel to my dad's brother's house. Mom was an only child. Dad's sister is also a huntress in Vacuo but she completely fell off the grid when they told her my dad died. Anyways my uncle is a part of the police force in Minstrel, his wife is a nurse. Their son joined the army, while their daughter left the city to live in one of the smaller towns. Well she leads the militia there so not really a peaceful life."

Silence descended once more as each of them were lost in thought. Liz looked to Warren who still had his hood pulled low from when Fae told her story. "How about you, oh great and fearless leader?"

Warren gave a start as flood of emotions played across his face. Before anyone could say anything more a loud rumble sounded from Liseran's stomach. With a nervous chuckle Ozwald shook his head in disbelief while War composed himself. Finally after a long pause Warren nodded. "I...I'll tell you guys the story. One day, I promise. Just...not right now." Fae frowned slightly as she mentally reviewed the emotions that played across her leader's face. A loud clap from their cheerful teammate drew their attention as she practically shouted, "I don't know about you but food sounds won~der~ful~ right about now!"

With that she leapt up and dashed from the room while Oz shook his head with a wide grin as he followed her out of the room. Seemingly to follow the others Fae walked over to the doorway before she called out to her two teammates, "I'll catch up later. I have to meet up with Coco."

She then shut the door and turned back to face Warren. Silence stretched between them. It slowly grew awkward and neither seemed to know what to say. He kept his hood pulled low as he refused to look in her direction. As if refusing to acknowledge her would convince her to leave. Frustrated that she continued to linger and clearly had something to say, Warren started to snap at her. " **What**. You clearly want to say something so just say it al-"

He cut off startled when she had wrapped him in a light hug, one he could easily break away from. Quietly she whispered, "I'm sorry."

[...what?]

She moved back slightly but kept her hands on his shoulders as she met his gaze. "I won't pry. I won't ask you to explain. But I feel as though I must apologize for that promise the situation forced from you." Sympathy was etched across her features when she paused and seemed to contemplate her next words.

"We are all apart of Team WOLF now-" A chuckle escaped him at the remark, but even to his own ears it sounded broken. From his scroll a sympathetic sound escaped from the speakers as Fae continued, "-and our survival may very well depend on our ability to work as a team. Eventually we will have to come to trust each other. Or at the very least, be able to tolerate one another. So please, don't force yourself to say something before you are ready. That will only bring resentment and hurt us in the long run. Trust takes time to build, we'll get there eventually."

With that said she stepped away and crossed her arms. A slightly amused smile crossed his lips as he noticed she was waiting for a response. Hoarsely he started to reply, "Alrig-"

He coughed and cleared his throat before he tried again, "Alright. Thanks, for trying to make sure I'm alright."

She gave him a knowing smile as she softly responded, "I saw your expression. Shock, grief, fear-" Swiftly she shook her head to keep herself from continuing, instead she asked, "I'm not foolish enough to ask **if** you are alright. Instead I'll ask, **will** you be alright?"

"Yeah. I think I will."

Satisfied she nodded. For some reason she saw fit to curtsy before she turned and left the room. The door clicked shut behind her as she thought, [Well. Barely one day in and already we are dancing around childhood trauma. That could have gone better.]

* * *

AN: The whole part with Charles and Ozwald asking, "He is human, right?" is actually a reference to Hayate the Combat Butler. Shesh I really need to sit down one day and finish reading that...


	8. Chapter 08: Painful Past

AN: Warning, this chapter has a lot of cursing and a pretty brutal drop of Warren's past. You've been warned.

* * *

Chapter 08: Painful Past

After the others left Warren wandered out of their room. He slowly paced through the halls as cheerful chatter rang out from all around him. Playful banter from new teammates. Surprised shouts of discovery as the first years explored the grounds. Jokes and laughter drifted over the air as Warren walked the grounds lost. To him it all seemed fragile. How long with the laughter last? How many missions before the first years faced a casualty? The happy atmosphere reminded him of better times with his parents...and how it all ended when he lost them both. [What am I even doing here?] Mentally, War was miles away as his feet carried him aimlessly through the school.

-x-x-x-x-

Fae had long since grabbed a quick bite to eat before she excused herself to go to the workshop. Oz and Liz stuck around to enjoy a full meal complete with dessert. Well, Oz tried to, until Liz stole his dessert...as well as his second and third helping. Liz dropped her fork on her now empty plate as she declared, "That is it! I can't eat another bite!"

Oz gave her a dubious look as he deadpanned, "If this was the first time I heard you say that, I might believe you. It lost its meaning after the third time."

Liseran shrugged happily, "What was I supposed to do? We may have tricked Velvet into trying the carrot cake, but you saw the look on her face when we told her what it was! I couldn't leave her to finish it alone!"

"And what about all the cookies you took off my plate?" Innocently Liz replied as she twirled a strand of her hair, "You did promise me your desert for the next three days."

"That is why I grabbed seven cookies! So I could still have some after I gave you a few!"

She pulled out her scroll and replied distractedly as she typed on the scroll, "Well that is what you get for trying to wiggle out of our deal."

Ozwald sighed as he slumped over the table on defeat. "You know, if I didn't sit here and watch you eat, I would never believe anyone who told me you could eat THAT much."

With a grin she sat forward and bopped him on the head to get him to look at her. When she had his attention she winked at him as she placed a finger before her lips, "A girl's gotta have her secrets!" Oz groaned at himself for expecting anything more serious from his whimsical teammate. Someone sat next to him but he ignored them. He wanted to wallow in his dramatized grief a bit longer.

"So Ozwald," Startled he jumped up in his seat and spun around when he heard Aqua say his name. Liseran grinned smugly as the other girl continued to talk, "Is it true what they say? That you have a really bad poker face?"

Wide eyed he slowly turned to face Liz. She looked away in a hurry and whistled tunelessly. Already everyone on their team knew she liked to hum and whistle often, and fairly decently when she chose to do so.

Right then, she had purposely chosen to whistle poorly in her mock innocent act. [She. Told. Aqua.]

His face went bright red as Aqua laughed. "Don't worry about it! I have a terrible poker face as well. If you ever get roped into a game, I'll tag along." She smiled cheerfully before she added, "That way you won't suffer alone!"

Oz stared at her in complete shock. Slowly the wheels in his head started to turn once more as he recalled Liz's earlier threat of a game of strip poker. If he played...Aqua would join. Who also had a terrible poker face. Once again his face turned red as a small noise escaped him before he clamped his mouth shut. Liz immediately guessed his train of thought as she broke down into hysterical laughter. Aqua looked at the two of them in confusion as Oz pulled out his scroll and sent Fae a message that consisted of a single world.

-x-x-x-x-

-Shorty after Fae left the cafeteria-

Fae confidently strolled through the halls until she reached the workshop that Liseran showed them the day the arrived. She walked over to the locker area and hit a button on her scroll. Soon after the sound of a rocket roared through the air as her locker descended. She removed Six Slicers from the locker and pulled up the schematics on her scroll. The most ideal solution would be to up the caliber of her rounds but even that would take a LOT of work. The barrels would have to be replaced, as well modifications to the clips to carry the larger rounds. Then she'd have to ensure that the changes in 'gun mode' would not adversely affect the balance of the weapon in 'blade mode'.

She placed her scroll to an empty work table as the schematics were projected across the surface of the table. She kept the schematics on hand for modifications like this. Sure she could remember the stats and details of the components, but without the 'whole picture' it was difficult to know how individual changes would influence the entire piece. To start, she would have to decide upon what caliber to work with. Just as the thought crossed her mind a voice spoke up behind her.

"Ah! Hello Fae! How's loverboy doing?"

Fae turned and was about to reply when she saw Coco's weapon and her reply went unspoken and forgotten.

"Is….is that a gatling gun?"

Coco peered over her shades at Fae. With a mischievous smile she replied, "Why yes it is. But Miss Von-Vert, did you just respond to a question with a question?"

Fae's eyes went wide as before she shook her head and composed herself. "Yes, I am sorry. That was rather impolite of me, I offer my most insincere apologies." She flashed the fashionista a wry grin as Coco covered her mouth with a mock gasp. The two smiled as Coco asked again, "So how is Ozwald and the rest of team WOLF doing? Sleep well?"

"He was doing fine last I saw him. He and Liz went to get lunch. I was going to stay longer but I really shouldn't put this off." She gestured to the table before she frowned and looked back at Coco. "Although I do recall a rather rude awakening to someone shouting your name."

"In my defense I've never HAD to 'share' a room before. When I did it was always girls. I forgot Fox and Yatsu were then when I started changing…"

In the silence that followed both Coco and Fae realized the entire room had fallen silent as the other students listened in. Coco cleared her throat as she looked over at one of them with a glare and she placed her hand on her hip with attitude. There was a scramble of motion, in which more than one person stubbed their toe.

Fae shook her head with smile as she changed the subject, "So what are you doing here Coco?"

"Adding another barrel."

Fae stopped and looked at the other girl in surprise. "What? The tri-barrel overheated to often with the constant battles. Yeah adding another barrel will increase the weight but Beacon has access to many more resources than Signal. They have this alloy I am going to try out. The weight is a little less but it has better heat dispersion."

She sighed as she looked over the schematics on her own work table and made a sour face, "Unfortunately that does mean I have to cast and modify 4 barrels."

Fae brightened as an idea occurred to her. "Well if you agree to assist me with modifying my weapons I can help you with yours."

As soon as she spoke her scroll went off. Surprised she checked it. [A message from Ozwald?] She opened the message and stared at the single word written there, "Help!"

"Everything okay?"

"Yes. I apologize for that." Coco shrugged as she started to disassemble her weapon. "Who was it by the way?"

"Ozwald."

Coco perked up and turned to face Fae and gave the other girl her undivided attention. [Uh oh.]

"What did he say?"

[If he needs help...Coco tagging along will make things worse.] So she went with the first thing that came to mind.

"Just some team building. We talked about our backgrounds some. Oz just wanted to give me an update."

Coco's eyes brightened at the prospect. "That's...not a bad idea. I mean I already know Velvs pretty well but the other two…"

Fae silently apologized to Ozwald for being unable to excuse herself. [If it was a real emergency he'd used the priority alerts. Please be ok.]

-x-x-x-x-

Oz hopped the table as he made for the exit. [How long is Fae going to take! It's been hours!] He pointedly avoided looking at the clock on the wall as he dashed around the crowded cafeteria.

Shouting as she leapt to her feet, Liseran called out after him, "You're not getting away that easily!" Flushed with embarrassment, Ozwald retorted, "If I stay here I'll die of embarrassment!" With a playful laugh Liz shouted back, "You can run, but you can't hide~! I already tagged~ you~!"

Oz swore severely as he burst through the cafeteria doors and crashed right into Yatsuhashi. In pursuit Liz burst through the doors after him but stopped when she saw giant look down at her teammate sprawled out on the floor. She pumped her fists into the air as she cheered, "Yes! Backup has arrived!"

With a pained groan, Oz sat up and shot the taller teenager a dirty look. With a raised finger Yatsu weakly asked, "I am backup?" With an exaggerated giggle, Liseran clapped her hands as she nodded. "Yes of course! You came to my aid in my hour of need!" Both boys stared at her as she looked up at him from under her eyelashes as she continued, "I would offer you a kiss as thanks for your assistance but I don't think I can reach your cheek. Can you kneel to receive your reward?"

With a bland look Yatsuhashi stared at her before he stated, "Never thought I'd be thankful to Coco for her constant flirting." He then offered a hand to Ozwald to help him off the floor. Upset that her playful banter went ignored Liz pouted while Oz stood. Yatsu apologized quietly to Oz before he nodded in Liseran's direction and marched on into the cafeteria. Huffing, Liz continued to pout as she address Ozwald, "Well, my mood is spoiled. I'll see you latter Ozy!" As she sprinted off Ozwald shook his head. [Well, time to find something else to do.]

-x-x-x-x

Hours later, Fae had just left the workshop with Coco in tow. The two were discussing holding a meal in the common area on each floor of the dorms, when Fae's scroll rang for a call. Fluidly she drew the scroll and popped it open to see the caller was none other than her partner. Distracted by a tap on her shoulder, the noble looked over to Coco as she asked, "Should I leave?" Fae shook her head, she didn't mind if the other girl overheard.

"Greetings, this is Faerien."

"Okay first of all, that? That is going to need to stop." A slight frown tugged at Fae's lips at her partner's remark, while Coco stifled her laughter. [What is wrong with my greeting?]

"Secondly, have you seen Warren? I think he's been avoiding us. I mean, yeah I tagged him but...Should I track him down? It is one thing to track down Oz, he is fun to screw with but...Warren is our leader ya' know? It feels a little weird to try and track him down if he really is avoiding us. Plus with our whole talk this morning he seemed really upset when we left."

Coco's face darkened into a scowl, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Fae as she responded, "No. I do not believe that is necessary just yet. Message him first, and if he doesn't reply by dinner we'll track him down. Additionally since Coco and I were planning on making dinner in the common room, it would be a good bonding chance between teams."

The other girl flashed her a thumbs up before she pulled out her own scroll and started to send messages to her team. Somewhat reluctantly, her partner agreed and ended the call. Satisfied with that plan, Fae asked Coco "So what was it we were planning on making again?"

"Um...hot dogs, instant mac-n-cheese, and frozen veggies?"

Faerien came to a complete halt as she stared at the fashionista. "Please tell me you are joking."

Huffing Coco crossed her arms as she defended herself, "Hey, everything else was just us talking about stuff we COULD make. That stuff I know we currently have in the common room." Embarrassed Fae's face flushed as she explained herself, "That is not the problem, it is just that…"

Unable to help herself she turned away as her voice dropped, "I have never cooked any of those."

This time, Coco came to a halt as she stared at the young noble in utter disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me."

-x-x-x-x-

Laughter echoed out from the common room. At first it started with Fox, Coco, Fae, Liz, and Oz as they pulled together the simple dishes. Velvet, Yatsuhashi, and Aqua wandered by and joined in after Yatsuhashi ordered pizza. Aqua called her teammates, and told them to bring drinks. After they arrived, and everyone teased Fae in her first attempt to cook mac-n-cheese, they all settled around a table and talked amicably. Eventually Fae pulled out her scroll and composed a message for Warren.

"I'm not sure what Liseran told you, but we cooked some food in the common area if you'd like to join us? The rest of the team are concerned that you are avoiding us, and want to track you down if you don't start replying. Just a heads up if you really need to be alone."

Satisfied, she sent the message. She lifted her glass to take a drink when she heard a scroll go off. For some reason, everyone noticed and nearly a dozen pairs of eyes turned to the open archway. There stood the missing leader barely in the room as if he couldn't decide to enter or not. Some of them gave greetings while most picked up on his awkward hesitation. Coco looked outright offended by his presence, while Velvet turned away in embarrassment.

"Um...hey."

"Hey man! Glad you could join us!" Instantly Ozwald jumped up from his spot and made his way over to his partner. Before War could protest, Oz managed to march him around the room. Swiftly he collected a plate with pizza, some mac-n-cheese, and several cans of soda before he parked his leader at the table next to Fae. Cheerfully Oz plopped down next to him and chatted away, "We were just talking about starting a few games if you feel like hanging out after grub is gone. Coco and Aqua brough cards, but we'll have to decide on what to play first."

Slowly talk around the table resumed as Warren started to eat quietly. Nervous, Fae caught her partner's eye and silently asked her to make a distraction.

"Oh hey! Have I told you guys about the one time I accidentally shot an apple out of someone's hand?"

"...how the hell did you 'accidentally' pull that off?"

As Liseran launched herself into her story, Fae subtly nudged her leader and asked, "You alright?"

Slowly Warren chewed his food before he lowered his fork and bluntly stated, "No. I'm really not."

As soon as the words left his lips, Coco slammed her hands down on the table and shouted, "Okay, seriously what the hell is your problem!"

All discussions stopped as Coco glared at Warren, "I get being jerk to assholes like Jade, but not the rest of us! You still haven't even apologized to Velvet yet! Not to mention whatever talk your team had this morning that pissed you off."

Startled Faerien's eyes went wide. She was going down a really dangerous path, "Coco wai-"

"No! You all are stuck with this piss-poor excuse for a leader and person! I don't know who the fuck raised you but somewhere along the line they sure as hell screwed up."

Warren's eyes went wide, before he tensed up and his eyes went cold. "Yeah. Sure. My parents had a real tough time raising me." A flicker of rage entered his gaze before he turned and stared Coco down. "Especially considering they have both been dead for years now."

Everyone was still. They hardly dared to breath as Coco's jaw dropped, "Wait, what? Warren, I-"

"Didn't know? Of course not. It's not like I enjoy talking about watching Baewolves tear my father apart. Listening to them snap his bones and eat his corpse while I hide cowering in terror in the ventilation shaft." Yastuhashi started to turn a little green as Fox subtly stopped mid bite and returned the food to his plate. "Then I get to play hide and seek with the damn creatures trying their best kill me as well. Trapped in my own home with the Grimm, while they tear the place apart." His gaze flickered across each of their faces. None of them could bring themselves to meet his gaze, or even to ask him to stop.

"Then mother finally made it home from her supply run. Course even a trained huntress isn't prepared to find Grimm in their own home, add in the fact that she decided she needed to protect her hot blooded son hell bent on taking revenge for his father, she never really had a chance. Course she managed to kill them all, but being run through by an alpha beowulf and having a lung collapse tends to be fatal."

Slowly he brought himself to his feet and despite his short stature he towered over Coco, as pure venom entered his voice. "So, yeah. I'm fucked up, and tend to be an asshole because of it. But don't. You. **DARE**. Insult my parents, again." He stormed out of the room without a backwards glance.

Coco sat there and stared at his seat, and looking utterly devastated. Everyone stayed frozen in place before Ozwald finally broke the silence.

"Well...shit. That was, rather horrible."

Several other muttered their agreement when Coco asked, "The talk, that I heard you guys had this morning." She turned to face Fae, as she continued, "I misunderstood that didn't I?" The others watched in confusion, while Faerien winced. "We talked about our families, and-" Pausing as she glanced over to Liz asking for silent permission. After she received a slow nod from her partner she continued, "My father died about a month after my mother found out she was pregnant. Liz lost both her parents as a small child. When we asked Warren about his family he-"

She gestured somewhat hopelessly so Liseran cut in, "He panicked. Almost freaked out right there. He said he'd tell us later." The sniper looked away as she added, "I don't think this is what he meant."

Coco ground her teeth together in frustration, "Damn. Damn it all. I'm sorry, I totally screwed this whole night up." She looked over at Team AZUR before she turned back to Team WOLF. "You can tell him that if you want to, but don't apologize for me. I need to do that in person." Sighing she shook her head as she left the room. One by one, the others followed suit until only the three remaining members of Team WOLF were left behind.

"Well...shit. This is a rather horrible situation."

Liz rolled her eyes as Ozwald repeated himself. Taking stock of the room she sighed before she rounded on her teammates and clapped her hands. "Okay!"

This time Oz rolled his eyes as he commented, "You do that a lot." Instead of replying she stuck her tongue out at him before she continued with what she planned to say. "Alright. You two, clean up this mess they left us with. I'll track down our leader, I think I know what to say to calm him down a little bit."

The duo looked about the room. Stacks of empty pizza boxes, cans of soda, paper plates and dishes in the sink. Before either could protest, Liseran skipped from the room calling back to them, "Hop to it~"

-x-x-x-x-

"I~ found you~"

Warren grunted from the spot he lay upon the roof, instead of giving an actual response to Liz's sing-song like statement. Careening over to him she plopped down next to him and leaned into his field of view so he was forced to look at her.

"Boop."

Sheer disbelief was written on his face when she bopped him on the nose and said that.

"What the fuck?"

Nonchalant she shrugged as she replied, "Well I figured you were somewhat uncomfortable with how that all went down, otherwise you would be in the dorm room. Since you are up here I'm assuming you aren't sure how to face us. But you know what they say about assuming~. I mean, you might be a self proclaimed ass, but if me being one as well gets you back in the dorm, then I can live with that."

Warren continued to stare at her in shock for several moments before he finally asked, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Hm~. Not sure?" She went to bop him on the nose again, to which he scowled fiercely as he knocked her hand away. "I'm willing to bet that Ozzy and Fae are expecting me to be able to relate with you and somehow convince you to come back inside and give your team a chance instead of hiding out up here. Frankly that's not going to work. I barely remember my parents, and they sure as hell didn't die right in front of me."

With a sigh she lay down next to him as she continued to chat away. "No matter what, we will all end up messed up. Some of us already are, you and I are two good examples of that. But all huntsmen and huntresses are quirky. They deal with death on every job. Called out to exterminate a Grimm that killed someone. Hired to protect a caravan because the last one was lost. Go defend a village because they already lost several people and can't deal with it on their own. We will have to deal with that kind of thing often. Eventually it will break us. Sure we will pick ourselves up, a little busted, maybe a little twisted, but if we don't pick up the pieces we'll just end up falling apart. We can't change the past, we can only enjoy the present while we still have it and work towards a brighter future. And this is that start of that. All of us, working together."

She rolled onto her side and Warren was suddenly uncomfortably aware of how close she was. Deciding to take the easy way out he changed topics and stated, "You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to make a move on me right now."

Her eyes went wide before she burst into laughter. Warren sat up and scowled at her as she rolled on the ground laughing. Weathering his glares she laughed herself to tears before she managed to bring her laughter under control.

"Sorry, it just you really aren't my type. Fae, Velvet, maybe Fox, and most definitely Yatsuhashi are more my type. I mean don't get me wrong, you and Ozwald are handsome but I like the quiet types."

Startled he looked at her as she cocked an eyebrow at him. "What? Didn't think I'd just outright tell you I like the guys and the gals? Shesh, you've been around me more than 5 minutes, you should know by know that if you ask me a question you WILL get a brutally honest answer."

With honest disbelief he shook his head as he bluntly stated, "You suck at pep talks."

"Yep~ But I'm great at distracting people! Bet you don't feel as bad now huh?" Warren froze, much to his own shock...she was right. He did feel better. Mainly because he felt exasperation for the bubbly girl next to him, but even now remembering why he was up here, he felt better about it.

"Great! Cause it's late and we have class tomorrow." She stood and dusted herself off as she offered a hand to her leader. With a resigned sigh he accepted her help and said, "Alright fine, let's get going." Sighing again he added, "And thanks. For the weirdest pep talk I've ever received. Somewhat glad I'm not your type."

"Aw don't worry about it! You're still one delicious piece of eye candy." She paused before she winked at him, "Just don't get me drunk and you'll have nothing to worry about."

Sputtering he choked out startled protests as she laughed and sauntered off. He groaned before he followed her off the roof. [She's weird. But to be fair, she's right. All huntsmen and huntresses are weird.]

* * *

AN: M'kay. That was a thing. So first things first, Coco. No I'm not trying to make her seem like a bitch. (If anyone thinks she is coming across like that. That is not the intention) She is confident, headstrong, and did not get off to a good start with Warren. Because of that I made it where she just bulldozed on over everyone's protests and snapped at Warren for what she interpreted as continued rudeness to not just her team, which she was barely tolerating as is, but to his own team as well.


	9. Chapter 09: First Classes

Chapter 09: First Classes

Ozwald and Fae sat in their dorm room as they awaited the return of the remaining two team members. Faerien nervously fidgeted about her desk while Oz had started to prepare for bed. The sound of her tapping of a pen had started to annoy Ozwald, but he knew she was trying to relax so he let it go. The door opened as Liseran proudly strutted into the room with a wide grin on her face. With a exaggerated bow she spread her arms to the open doorway she declared, "I present to you~ our no longer upset but still pretty dour leader!"

Glaring at the sniper, Warren entered the room and shut the door behind him with a little more force than strictly necessary. It was then he realized that his reaction supported her claim. A scowl started to cross his features when he noticed the rest of his team closely observed his reactions. He dropped the scowl and sighed as he realized they wanted some assurance from him that he was better.

"I'll be fine. There is, of course, more to the story but that was not how I wanted to bring up my past. I'm not ready to say more. But for now," War looked over to his partner and nodded, "I'll be alright for now."

Satisfied, Oz nodded in response. The team moved about the room to their respective sections of the room. Warren stepped over to his dresser and started to pull out a set of pajamas when a thought occurred to him. He looked over to his two female team members before he cleared his throat and stated, "So! Uh, changing clothes."

Everyone turned to face the faunus as he scowled, "That didn't mean for you all to turn and look." Liz chuckled while he continued.

"What I meant is how are we going to deal with changing clothes? Are we just not going to care? Should the guys leave to be nice, or should the girls leave so there is no worries about walking in on you two while under dressed?"

"I vote for not caring!" Oz's jaw dropped as he turned to Liseran but Fae beat him to the punch as she all but shouted at the other girl. "You can NOT be serious!"

Somewhat defensive, Liz leaned back onto her desk as she crossed her arms. "And why not? If I get injured I'd be much happier knowing my team isn't squeamish about undressing me to treat my injury. It is not like they are untrustworthy. Plus-"

She grinned and leaned forward as she stage whispered to Faerien, "You didn't see Oz walk in shirtless this morning did you? Those abs!" She squealed and winked teasingly at Ozwald who stared at the ceiling and repeatedly muttered the word 'why' over and over again.

Fae blushed to the roots of her hair as she fidgeted. She jumped when Warren placed his hand on her shoulder. He raised his hands in a silent apology as he spoke, "Look. Despite the point that Liz raised, we are still pretty much strangers to each other. Sure. We all talked some, shared about our semblances, and talked about our families. But we all just meet yesterday-"

"I met Fae the day of the orientation."

Warren rolled his eyes as he continued despite Liz's interruption, "So we all just meet one or two days ago. Trust takes time to build. Liz DOES have a point. We are Team WOLF now, you should reach the point where you are comfortable enough to change in front of us. Our very survival may depend on our cooperation. But that doesn't mean it has to be right now. We have four years to learn to work together and trust each other. Don't force yourself to say something before you are ready. Trust takes time to build, we'll get there eventually. And at least learn to tolerate Liseran."

"Yea-HEY! That was mean!"

Liseran pouted as Ozwald laughed and tried to console the girl. Fae sighed and briefly made eye contact with Warren. A small knowing grin crossed her face as she noticed that he purposefully used parts of their earlier talk to convince her. After all, she'd be arguing against herself if she disagreed now. "Thank you. Truly. I vote for-" she took a deep breath, "f-for not caring."

At their worried looks she quickly added, "It is fine. I promise. She made a good point, I DO trust you all. Just..." she fidgeted slightly as she voice grew smaller, "...could we all just agree to not stare while someone changes their apparel?"

"I vote not caring." The attention of the room shifted to Ozwald as he shrugged. "I worked for my family's company on and off for a few years now. We have mixed locker rooms. Some people will change without a care who is watching. Sometimes when you are running late, you learn not to care that much either."

"Well since I vote for not caring I guess we reached a consensus." With that that said Warren proceeded to remove his shirt and get ready for bed. Fae tried relax and will her blush away as she collected a change of clothes. A quick glance around the room showed her that everyone was getting ready for bed so she started to change when she hear Liz speak up in a strange tone.

"Wow Fae. Black lace. How...bold."

Lost and completely confused Faerien looked over to her teammate with a questioning look. "What are you..." She started to inquire as the meaning of her words clicked. Her gaze snapped over to her other teammates as her face flushed crimson. "Liz! Don't joke about that!"

"Who says I'm joking?"

Warren had frozen with his shirt covering his face. Ozwald was facing the wall but they could tell he was blushing as well from the redness of his ears.

"I say you are joking!"

"Well now it is your word against mine. Since they probably believe you are just embarrassed they only way for them to know the truth is to look for themselves-"

"LISERAN MATHEWS YOU **WILL** BE SILENT!"

-x-x-x-x-

Morning came quickly and almost as if in spite of actually setting an alarm Warren awoke before it even went off. With an internally resigned sigh he sat up. His scroll buzzed with a message, and glancing at the device displayed CANA as the sender. Probably concerned as to why he was awake already. Quietly as to not disturb his still slumbering team mates he made his way over to his closest and changed into the school uniform. His night clothes were deposited in his hamper, [Now that I think about it...scrolls, furniture, meals, education, I'll have to inquire about munitions and modification fees but overall...I'm pretty well off right now.]

With a shake of his head to dismiss the thoughts he stepped from the room. He placed his earpiece over his ear and activated it.

"Good morning Warren."

"Ello, CANA. I am assuming Coco is still in her room?"

"Affirmative. If I may, what it the impetus for your inquiry?"

"I need to clear the air. Even if they aren't on my team we will be around the other teams a lot."

Silence followed his reply as he approached Team CFVY's door and knocked. He heard groans and complaining. Coco demanded someone to answer. Velvet voted that Coco answer due to her being team leader and before she could offer rebuttal, Fox and Yatsu seconded her vote.

Warren bit his lip to keep from laughing as he heard her grumble and make her way closer. The door swung open,

"Alright, who the hell has-Warren!"

Stunned into silence she openly stared as the faunus raised his eyebrows at her apparent sleeping apparel. Short shorts and a very distractingly tight tank top. "Hello Coco. Can we...talk?"

Wordlessly she nodded woodenly as she stepped from the room and closed the door behind her. Warren heard a flurry of motion and shushing as her teammates attempted to silently scrambled over to the door.

"I wanted to-"

"I'm sorry."

She took a deep breath and looked over at him and to his surprise she looked truly contrite, and on the verge of tears.

"I'm so sorry for what I said last night. I was already mad at you for Velvet, and was quick to assume. There really is no excuse for saying what I said. I'm-"

"Geeze Coco. Take a breath."

Coco's gaze snapped back up to his face and to her astonishment Warren looked...embarrassed. Shuffling his weight from foot to foot he gestured wordlessly before he spoke. "Look. I'm an asshole. I get it. I'm not a people person, and I'm sorry I snapped at you like that."

Her eyes went wide as she tried to speak but he cut her off, "No, just let me-listen!"

A loud sigh escaped him as he waited, eventually she nodded and he continued. "Yeah, what you said was harsh. But I regret bringing up my parents like that. I only did it because of how certain I was that it would leave you feeling mortified. But...I never wanted to use my parents memory like that. I was being an ass it lead me to lashing out in on a level I never thought I'd sink down to. So, I'm sorry."

He stuck a hand out before him and asked, "Can we agree to try and put this behind us?"

Shell shocked she stared at his offered limb before she reached out and accepted his handshake. "I'm still going to be awkwardly self conscious around you, I hope you know."

Warren shrugged as he raised his voice slightly, "That's fine. Can you let me in though? Now I need to talk to Velvet."

Coco gave him a weird look when he raised his voice but as soon as he finished they both heard a muffled "Eeep!" followed by quiet scrambling noises from her team's room.

"Oh, they did not just-!"

In a heartbeat she was at the door scroll in hand leaving Warren to wonder where the hell she pulled the device from. She flung the door open and stormed in as Warren followed with a small smirk.

"Now before Coco has a chance to go off on you three for eavesdropping, Velvet!"

The bunny faunus meeped once more before she hesitantly replied, "Y-yes?"

"Sorry I teased you so candidly. I honestly meant it as joke. Crass, suggestive, and wildly inappropriate, but no malicious intent."

"Uh, thanks? I mean, it is fine. Not that it was okay! P-please don't say something like that again, just...um...thank you."

"Great! They're all yours Coco." He waved goodbye as Coco cracked her knuckles and glared at her team. "Remember we have classes today~!" With that he let the door shut behind him and made his way to the cafeteria.

"That was very considerate of you."

Warren glanced around to ensure the hallway was deserted before he turned and took a detour for a long route to the cafeteria.

"Like I told you earlier. I needed to clear the air. Liseran and Ozwald are big on friends and are going to try and befriend everyone. Plus I don't know much about Beacon's curriculum. I don't know how many, if any, projects are multi-team deals. How are things progressing on that front?"

"Slowly. There are several layers of security throughout the school. It would appear that each professor have their own hand crafted security measures. They manage their curriculums on private servers, that can only be accessed in limited areas. Additionally there appears to be no monitoring within each dorm room that I can detect, while every hallway and classroom is monitored with at least one camera. Whether or not the feeds are reviewed or actively monitored is unknown. Also, I have an inquiry."

That prompted him to roll his eyes before he replied. "Go ahead."

"Was your apology to Miss Adel sincere?"

Warren considered his words for a while as he continued down the scenic route.

"Yeah. My apology was sincere. I can't believe that I...I used what happened to them as..as something to verbally attack someone."

"Have you honestly accepted her apology?"

Instead of answering he evasively asked, "You are being very talkative this morning. You alright?"

"...I would be better if someone apologized to me as well for so rudely bringing up the demise of my creators." Warren winced knowing full well, that while the events of that incident were seared into his memory, he was better off than CANA. Visual, and audio recording were turned on, as his father was recording a progress update during the attack. He didn't have to carry an undeletable file of his parents death from multiple camera angles complete with sound.

"I'm sorry sis."

"Of course I can't really blame you for reacting the way you did. After all I may have signed Coco's scroll up to several spam mailing lists. Something I probably should assist her with before it gets too out of hand."

A grin spilled across his features but before he could reply he heard someone echo him.

"Sis?"

Warren stopped when he heard Ozwald call out the question. Sparing a glance over his shoulder and saw the rest of his team stood confused behind his partner.

"Uh, how much of that did you hear?"

"Only your side of the conversation. We figured you were on the scroll but...you have a sister?"

Warren coughed and tried to subtly look around. A few other people were in the current hallway so Warren turned and beckoned for them to follow. A short while later they reached a deserted courtyard when Warren turned to face his team. Awkwardly shuffling in place he pulled out his scroll before he spoke.

"Alright, well. Uh, CANA say hi."

Projected from the scroll was a holographic model of a young wolf faunus with pearly white hair and light blue eyes. The projection waved slightly before she folded her hands together and gave a slight bow. "Hello Team WOLF. A pleasure to finally be introduced."

"No. Way. No way, no way, NO WAY!~~~"

Liz squealed as she barged closer, stopping only inches from the projection that flinched back from the excited sniper.

"An AI." Awe was clear in her voice as she turned to her leader. "Fully self aware?"

He nodded as CANA answered, "Affirmative. I was created under the acronym Combat And Navigation Assistant, for the prototype aura driven armored carapace, code named the War Suit. Over time my functionality was expanded to be able to assist with calculations and self delegate simulations. At some point during the continued development of my software I developed awareness."

"Are you shackled or restricted at all?"

"Yes. I cannot duplicate my core programming. I have a internal block preventing me from remotely operate mechanical hardware without explicit user permission. I also cannot lie about operation requests."

"Wait you can lie about other things though?"

"I was created tomorrow, deleted yesterday, but brought online for the first time today." Her response brought them to a halt.

Warren hit a button and the projection vanished as he stowed his scroll. "Just message me and ask for Cana to add you to her contact list. She has permission to parse my messages and has her own separate domain setup on my scroll. Basically she has a virtual scroll set up so she can call and message you without having to go through me. We can talk more about this later, when we get back to our dorm. Plus, we don't have a lot of time left for breakfast before class."

With that they hurried to the cafeteria to get their breakfast. After they settled into their seats, Liz stole all of Ozwald's dessert. Since the one in question did not seem surprised by her actions and made no move to stop her, the other two left it alone. Instead they discussed what they expected of their next class.

"I would imagine that for the first day of each class we would be provided with a course outline and probably tested on what they consider to be the baseline material."

"Awwww a test on the first day? That would suck."

"I'm not so sure. It is Grimm Studies right? They might just start with Beowolves or Creeps and go over everything. Just to make sure any misinformation we know is corrected."

"Heya~ loverboy~"

Ozwald groaned loudly as he let his head fall to the table. Already he was too tired to object he answered, "Hey Coco."

Liz snickered as Coco grinned with self satisfaction before the fashionista waved to Warren and Fae as she rounded on the bubbly girl. "So? What'd you do last night? I think everyone heard miss prim and proper shout at you."

Fae pointedly looked away. Ozwald attempted to give himself a concussion by repeatedly beating his head on the table. Warren just scoffed as he asked, "What, trying to find a kindred soul with someone who also drives her team up the wall?"

Startled that he already was talking normally, well normal for Warren at least, Coco was at a loss for words. Liseran stuck her tongue out at her leader before she replied and distracted Coco from her own thoughts.

"We discussed getting dressed in the same room as each other and we'd go about it with two guys and girls on our team."

"Yeah...I kinda keep forgetting about Fox and Yatsu..."

The other three all the table all chorused, "We know."

"Any~ways~ we decided that we didn't care too much, if someone gets hurt we want to be able to get treatment without them freaking out about having to remove a bra or something."

Surprised Coco looked at the rival team wide eyed. "Seriously? That is...not a bad argument actually. Huh. I'll have to bring that up with my team. Wait, why'd you get yelled at then?"

"Oh that? Well Fae was stripping and I said-"

"THAT IS ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!"

Oz lunged across the table as he clamped his hands over Liseran's mouth. Warren grabbed her arms so she couldn't break free while Fae just sat there her face burning at Liz's teasing words.

The girl shrugged unapologetically while her eyes danced with mischief. With an indulgent smirk Warren whispered, "Alright, you had your fun, but I think you broke Fae and we should get to class. If we let you go, will you behave?"

With a slight pout Liseran nodded. Warren gestured for Oz to release her. They instantly regretted it for as soon as her mouth was uncovered Liz said, "I'm sorry daddy, punish me later?"

Warren faltered as Ozwald lunged for the prankster once more while Coco proceeded to laugh herself into a fit. Dancing away from them, Liz ran for the exit. Before she escaped she yelled out, "Coco! Black lacy lingerie! I'll tell you more later~~~"

With that she dashed from the room with Ozwald hot on her heels. Faerien buried her crimson face in her hands while Warren simply used his semblance to escape the attention his teammates antics drew to their table. Velvet entered the mess hall and found her leader laughing hysterically on the ground as she struggled to breath. She took one look at Fae's flushed face before she facepalmed and asked, "Alright Coco, what'd you do this time?"

"Hahaha ah haha, my sides! Ah~ You-you had to be there!"

-x-x-x-x-

Eventually the entirety of Team WOLF found themselves in attendance for Professor Port's Grimm Studies. Class was due to start shortly as Liz reclined back in her seat with a smug grin plastered to her face. Eventually Oz decided to try and wipe the grin off her face.

"I never would have pegged you for the BSDM type."

Around them the various other conversations died as everyone started to listen in. Fae tried to stifle a whine as she flinched away from Liseran. Of course Warren just ignored them all as Liz replied. "Oh? Why would that matter? Don't tell me you already want to tie me up?"

Warren muttered under his breath so that only his team members heard him. "If only to leave you behind for some peace and quiet."

Liz rolled her eyes as she turned to face Oz and placed her hands on his shoulders. She locked eyes with him and he suddenly got the feeling that bringing that up was a terrible idea.

"Ozwald. You are good looking. Heck without clothes on-" Fae made the pitiful whining noise once more. "-you are quite the piece of eye candy. But I'm sorry. You are not my type. Besides I don't like being tied up, I was just screwing with our leader. But it is nice to know you are open about your interests seeing as how you admitted it before such a large audience!"

She gestured to the other students who all sat there and stared at the pair. Ozwald covered his face and said, "Alright fine! I give up. I don't know why I bothered trying to embarrass you. Shoulda known you'd find a way to turn it back on me."

A few of their classmate gave the two concerned looks but any further conversation was prevented when a loud voice rang out. "Welcome students, and once again congratulations on your acceptance into Beacon! Please take your seats and we shall begin!"

The few stragglers around the room quickly found their way to their seats as Professor Port made his way to the podium in the middle of the room. A curious glance around the room left Fae puzzled. There were a lot more students here than where on the cliff for initiation.

[Come to think of it, the ballroom was filled with people. Who were all these other students?]

As if to directly answer her thoughts, "Now I am certain that many of the students that are NOT attending the huntsmen course are wondering 'Why do I have to take Grimm Studies'? Quite simple really, it is better to know than to be ignorant! Technology course students should know what the Grimm are capable of! If your buildings can be destroyed by a single Beowulf, they won't keep anyone safe! If you design a weapon that can't handle being dropped to the floor, how could it possibly hold up in combat? The Logistics and Political courses should be mindful of the beasts most common to their regions when they construct plans for evacuation and emergency procedures. Not to mention the Operations course students, if you have no idea what the Grimm is that you are sending a huntsman after, how can you hope to assist them?"

Warren and Fae exchanged glances. It would seem that neither of them knew that Beacon had other courses available besides training Huntsmen and Huntresses. Their other two teammates gave them puzzled looks as if to ask how they didn't already know that. Shrugging they turned their attention back to the professor. So far, this appeared to be the beginning of a very informative course.

In a sense, it was! Just not the manner they were hoping.

* * *

AN:

Yes. I did just address a huge question I've had about RWBY since Season 1. WHO THE HELL ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE? If you re-watch Season 1, Chapter 7: The Emerald Forest Part 2, there are 20 pedestals for the chess pieces, meaning 40 students, 20 pairs, and 10 teams. Looking at the maps of Vale, the sheer size of Beacon, the gathering in the ballroom and auditorium, there are a LOT more students than just a measly 10 teams of huntsmen. Not to mention that random guy who cheers during Professor Port's speech. (I really don't think he was a huntsman in training.) It would make sense if Beacon had multiple courses and that the Huntsman course was it's most famous course. Kinda like "My Hero Academia," there is the hero course, that the school is most famous for but there are also other courses.

...and now that I've typed that I feel as if my solution was ripped from My Hero Academia.

...damn it now I feel less clever. T.T


	10. Chapter 10: Unexpected

Chapter 10: Unexpected

Fae stared at the eccentric professor in disbelief. The man was difficult to listen to, to say the least. But if you actually listened to the what he was saying…

"I lost my balance in the mud due to the storms that plagued the area for the past few days. The beast took advantage of my momentary lapse and tackled me sending us both crashing through my Grandfather's cabbage cart. He cried out in despair, 'My cabbages!' Which drew the ire of the beast."

"I grabbed the closest thing on hand and stuffed it down the maw of the monster as it momentarily forgot me and roared at my Grandfather. Started that someone tried to feed it cabbages the foul creature tried to swallow as I scrambled to find my weapon! Unfortunately I could only seem to get my hands on more cabbages so I stuffed them one after another down the maw of the beast all the while continuing my hurried search for my weapon. In then end it was unnecessary as the beast choked on the leafy vegetables and eventually suffocated. And that my students, is how I killed an elder Creep, with naught but cabbages. Do not lose sight of your surroundings and use everything to your advantage in combat!"

Preposterous, utter ridiculous, highly improbable if not outright impossible. Shaking her head she glanced around the room and saw most of her classmates were long gone. Warren had his hood pulled over his eyes and was quietly snoozing away, while Ozwald's eyes had glazed over with a far away look. Worst of all was Liseran, the peppy girl was snoring softly as she held her head up with one arm on her desk.

It was easy to understand their reactions but at the same time, they were surprisingly rude! Even if it was difficult to listen to his ranting, to stop listening entirely was just plain rude! [Wait! Not ranting, I meant er…educational lecture?] She could barely contain the scowl that threatened to cross her features. With a shake of her head she raised her hand to be excused to use the restroom as she started to listen to the lecture once more.

"-believe themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

[What?] Her eyes went wide as his gaze locked onto her raised hand. [Uh-oh.]

"Oh-ho! Very well Ms. Von-Vert, here is your chance to prove it!"

With that said he stepped closer to the cage behind his desk. As soon as he drew close two red eyes appeared and the Grimm that was within the cage snarled and thrashed against the bars, waking the students who had fallen asleep. Liz blinked slowly as she yawned and focused on the cage and jumped in her seat as the creature gave a particularly loud growl.

"Holy shit, how long has that been there?!" Slowly Fae got up from her seat as she made her way down to the waiting professor. "Um, excuse me Professor Port?"

"Yes my dear? You'll have to speak up a bit." Her face flushed with embarrassment as she raised her voice, but it quickly dropped with each word spoken, "I didn't mean to volunteer, I was going t-to ask…"

She cleared her throat and suddenly found his polished leather boots VERY interesting to stare at as quickly squeaked out, "If I may be excused to use the restroom?"

"Ah, of course my dear, hurry back." The man nodded and ushered her out before he raised his voice and called out once more, "Any other volunteers?"

-x-x-x-x-

Overhearing their exchange Ozwald felt bad for his embarrassed teammate. He went to stand but before he could someone called out, "I'll do it."

A slight frown crossed his face as settled back into his seat. He recognized that voice. Looks like he'd get to see what Jayde was actually capable of. The class watched in silence as the bully made his way down the stairs. Most were unsure of what to expect, word of Jayde and Warren's spar had already circulated the school, earning him a reputation of a racist bully but...he made it to Beacon. Not to mention he already passed the initiation and was not just placed on a team, but was made the leader of it. He couldn't be all talk.

A trapdoor built into the ceiling opened as Jayde pocketed his scroll, and one of the rocket lockers descended. It popped open and the hunter in training removed his weapon. He proceeded to stroll over to Professor Port's desk and surprised everyone when he picked up a few pieces of paper and asked, "Mind if I use these?" The older man glanced them over and shook his head. Non-important forms, Jayde took a deep breath and activated his aura. "Ready."

"Not going to change into your combat attire?" Jayde shook his head in denial. The professor regarded him carefully for a moment before he shrugged, "Very well." With speed that did not match his stature, he grabbed his axe that was on display behind his desk and brought upon the lock of the cage as he shouted, "Begin!"

The door of the cage sprung open as an alpha creep burst free and roared. It hunkered down and as it faced Jayde who stood calmly before the Grimm as he held one of the sheets of paper between them. The monster lunged and closed the distance between them as Jayde moved back slightly.

Ozwald's eyes went wide as he realized the paper stayed suspended in mid-air between them. Jayde tightened his grip on his hammer as the beast collided with the paper-

-and came to a complete halt with a resounding impact.

With a shout he swung upwards and sent his hammer crashing into the skull of the beast. The creature sailed across the room and crashed onto the floor. It struggled to reorient itself as Jayde stepped forward and swung downward. The head of the hammer that faced away from the beast opened to reveal a secondary firing mechanism that triggered loudly. Propelled by the shot the weapon smashing the beast back down on to the ground.

It tried to roll and knock Jayde over, but the tall fighter jumped over the beast with ease. It collided with another sheet of paper that Jayde had paced before he jumped. Thrashing violently, it tried to rise once more. He landed lightly and rushed in slapping the remaining papers against the creep before he moved over to its head and smashed its down once more. Trapped the monster tried to struggle free as it was struck again and again before finally it slumped to the ground and started to dissolve. As it disappeared the first sheet of paper all but exploded into confetti.

The class watched as one by one the remaining sheets shredded, which prompted Professor Port started to speak once more. "Marvelous! Well done! It would appear we are truly in the presence of a great huntsmen in training! Bravo!"

A bell rung out through the intercom system as the professor cleared his throat. "Very well that appears to be all the time we have. No homework for tonight, just remember to always remain vigilant!"

Various students mingled in the pathways between the desks as they made their way for the exit. Oz waited for his team to get ready to leave as Warren stretched slowly. Clearly he was in no rush to leave, Oz looked around the room and was surprised to see Jayde waiting at the bottom level. Warren seemed to notice as he popped his shoulders and rose to his feet. Scrambling to follow his partner and back him up if necessary, Oz leapt to his feet as Warren made his way down to where Jayde was waiting.

"Marune."

"Lagune."

Jayde shifted slightly before he stated, "I heard about your parents." It was as if the whole world froze for a moment as Warren tensed. Everyone still in the room stopped and turned wary eyes to the faunus as he slowly forced himself to relax.

Undeterred Jayde continued, "Going through that, yet still coming here to become a huntsman? I can respect that." Oz was certain his was not the only jaw that hit the floor as Jayde suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "I still don't like you. I still want to kick your ass...but I can admit that you got guts." Finished with what he wanted to say he all but tossed his hammer into his locker as he left the room. Approaching his leader Oz stopped and waited for the faunus to compose himself.

"Well, I think we can all agree we did not see that coming."

Warren chuckled slowly before he asked rhetorically, "What kind of rumor mill does this school have?"

Ozwald raised a single brow as he deadpanned, "Liseran Mathews. That alone explains everything. Although I doubt she had anything to do with THAT one."

Warren opened his mouth to retort before he stopped and instead replied with, "Fair point." Before either of them could add anything else, Liz all but tacked Ozwald off his feet and she stated in a sing-song voice, "Ozzy! I have questions~"

-x-x-x-x-

"So what is the range of your sensing?" Oz shrugged as they walked through the halls to find his locker. "I tested it once, placed a shield on one of my families airships outbound for the Vytal festival a few years back. It never reached a point where I was unable to sense it. While it was in Vacuo I got a worse...view? I guess that's what you could call it? But I was never unable to sense it."

"So how difficult is it to add your 'sense' to something? Like it is pretty easy for me to tag something. I just have to consciously pick a color and touch it."

"It's not that easy. It has to be something that has been in contact with my aura for a good long while. Days at the least. My clothes have a tad bit of sense attached to them, but most notably is my shields and ammo. I'm constantly modifying them, and I do all my reloading by hand. The clips don't carry that much awareness with them, about a foot in any given direction, and sounds are kind muted. Where the shields get several feet in all directions, normally 1 shield is enough to cover a normal sized room."

"Wait, you can listen through them?"

Ozwald nodded as they made a turn. Following his lead, Liz nodded along while he clarified. "I can hear and see through them. Never managed to pull off the others, but never had a good reason to try. I mean why would I want to feel what a shield feels?"

Liz chuckled as Warren simply shook his head. "Downside is that there is no...hmm, passive sensing it. I'm either trying to sense something, or I'm not."

Arriving at his locker, Oz used his scroll to open it as Warren questioned, "So if each of us carry a shield, we can't talk to it and expect you to hear us the whole time."

"Spot on. I CAN listen in, but I have to CHOOSE to."

With a sigh Warren grumbled, "We really need to see how all of our Semblances work together. Though if I am being honest…"

"We aren't really a combat oriented team?"

Ozwald and Warren turned around to look at Liseran. She shrugged nonchalantly as she continued, "If Tag and Tune Sense can work together, Warren can sneak a tagged shield pretty much anywhere, and Oz and I can track it. Fae's Revert can help us sneak into places especially if we need a quick distraction. Overall with our various skill sets, we are more sneaky team. Stealth, tracking, protection, that kind of thing. Of course having a rail gun and a suit of armor don't exactly go hand in hand with stealth but…"

They contemplated her words as she continued, "In any event Tags placed on most objects and such last until I remove them. Or at the very least I've yet to see them decay when placed on random things."

Warren caught her phrasing, "So there are things that they do decay on?" Pleased that he caught on she grinned. "People. Their weapons. I think it has to do with their aura, which makes sense as to why it doesn't last long on their weapons either. In those cases, the tags last about a week unless I re-apply them."

She checked her scroll again as she asked, "So! Can Oz Sense something that he is tuned to while Warren is shadow walking? Can I see Tagged things while Warren Shadow walks? Will my Tags interfere with Ozwald's Tune Sense? With Fae's Revert remove my Tags, or interfere with Tune Sense? And more questions for Fae on how Revert works."

Apparently, she took notes. With a clap Liz bounced to her feet as she looked at Oz. "Unfortunately since it takes so long for you to tune something, the easiest way to test all of that is for me to tag one of your shields, and have Warren Shadow Walk with it. After that we can break the shield, and see if Fae's Revert removes anything."

With a drawn out groan, Ozwald handed one of his shields to Liz. Her eyes darkened to black before she passed the shield to Warren. "Out of idle curiosity, how many colors can you tag in?"

Liz smiled as her grey eyes flashed through several colors. "Eight! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and black. And yes I keep the colors organized. Baddies get red. Friends get green, while generally good people get blue, and so on." Her smile curved into a smirk as her eyes were colored by an unrelenting prismatic storm.

"Whoa…"

"I never said I could only view color at a time~"

Ozwald turned to Warren as he asked, "Well, that is a thi- uh...War?" Warren was gone, it dawned on him that he had started to Shadow Walk so he tried to sense the shield that he passed their leader when.

"Oh! Oh, jeez!"

It was like the world was inverted. Everything was black, except for these window like pathways that were scattered about. It took him a moment to realize that the 'windows' were actually the shadows cast on objects. He could sense Warren as he slowly made his way across the pathways. He could sense out from the windows, but it was like trying to sense his shield when it was in Vacuo. He could do it but the range wasn't as good as it normally was.

"Huh. Now that is odd. The tag is...flattened. I can see Warren, I can see the shield, but they are flattened onto the floor-whoa! Hey! You can walk on walls!?"

Warren's laughter echoed out from a shadow as he reached out and pulled himself free of the shadow. "And the ceiling. If I feel so inclined." With a shake of his head Oz scoffed as he commented, "Well, I guess it is time to go bug Fae and rope her into this experimentation."

He looked at the shield that Warren held and sighed. [I really hope we don't break it too badly…]

-x-x-x-x-

"And done!" Fae looked over at Coco with a blank stare. "Ish. Kinda." This time she simply raised an eyebrow at the eccentric fashionista.

"Okay fine! The easy part is done. Happy?" Fae tilted her head back slightly as she contemplated her reply. "Hm~ Not particularly. After all the project is not yet finished. But all the same I feel, that this is a good moment to thank you, once more, for your assistance."

Coco could do nothing other than stare at the young noble. After a few moments she deadpanned, "You are totally messing with me right now aren't you?"

"Why Coco! I would never! It would extremely unbecoming of someone of my stature to, as you put it, 'mess with' someone."

"Fae~~~~~"

Faerien's banter with the fashionista was interrupted when Liseran ran into the workroom and headed straight for her. "Hello Liseran, how can I help yo- whoa, hey hold on for a moment!"

Before she could even finish her greeting Liseran had marched up and grabbed her by the wrist and had started to drag her out of them room.

"Wha-Liseran! Wait I was- Listen to me~~!"

Flustered Fae tried to protest as Liseran dragged her from the room.

"I'll trim the barrels down to the listed length. Try to be back by then!" Fae shot the other girl a grateful look as her team member pulled her through the door and out to the hallway where she saw Ozwald and Warren.

"You put her up to this didn't you."

Warren grinned widely as he raised a single finger. "One: ouch why would you assume that?" He raised a second finger and continued as she went to reply. "Two: Yes. Yes I did."

"Wel-"

"Three." He added another finger as his tried to keep the laughter out of his voice when he saw her glare for cutting her off. Repeatedly. "To be fair, she is hard to say 'no' to."

Ozwald shuffled forward in a subdued fashion. Fae looked at him concerned. While not as...ceaselessly optimistic as Liseran was, from what she'd seen the other boy was normally cheerful. For him to be so subdued...she looked to the object in his hands and sighed. "I think you three overestimate me."

Shocked Oz's jaw dropped as Liz and Warren subtly shifted away from their teammate. "But...I thought- you could...huh?"

Fae sighed and lead the to an empty room and gestured for them to step inside. Confused the other three followed.

Once inside Fae stepped over to one of the tables as she pulled her dark hair back into a ponytail. She tapped one of her bracelets and it glowed green before it shifted. The others watched as it wrapped around her hair and formed a loop with her crest upon the surface. She gestured to the table as Oz took the cue to set the shield down on the surface.

"As I told Liseran, my Semblance is Revert. I can revert an object to a state I've seen it in at a different point in time. Easiest example being my bracelets." She crossed her wrists and several of the bracelets glowed briefly and flowed down to her hands where they reformed into-

"Doesn't that count as walking around armed?"

In each hand were two short knives. With a brief smile Fae pressed the two knives together as the glowed once more and shifted and merged into a much longer dagger.

"How?"

She crossed her wrists once more as they flowed back into bracelets as she explained. "Originally it was an experiment. Charles took block of carbon fiber, had me sit down and watch him forge it into the knives. Then I reverted them back into the block and he crafted my bracelets. Reverted and then forged it into a dagger. Again and again we remade it into various objects, so I can shift that one object between any of those 'states' I've seen it in."

"Ok, so you've seen my shields. What's the problem?"

In lieu of an answer, she reached into the shredded pile of scrap and picked out a random piece of circuitry and held it up. "This. I don't know how this was connected. I don't know how the internal mechanisms work. If I sat down went over your blueprints, watched as you assembled the thing, and then was involved with any modifications beyond simple repairs then, yes, I could Revert it. Easily. But otherwise…"

She trailed off and placed a hand on the surface of the shield. It glowed and shifted as certain parts were pushed out of the way. Most went back within the shield and a few pieces fell outwards onto the table. It looked whole, undamaged and repaired but with all the scrap around shield, it was clear that it was not 'fixed'.

"The most I can do without that knowledge is surface repair. Anything composed of a single material is relatively easy to Revert. A cup, or clothing are excellent examples. However once we start introducing complex mechanisms and circuitry it is much more difficult for me to fix. Using it to heal people is also unusually draining so don't expect miracles. Treat it as expedited first aid, but if we have the time and resources for traditional treatment we should chose that instead."

A heavy sigh escaped from Oz as Liz and Warren both flinched at the sound. "I guess we should have checked with you before we attempted this. On the bright side I can still sense it. But now I wonder if you are able to Revert and object to a state it was in before I Tuned it, would I still be able to sense it."

"Oh! You were testing Semblance interaction?"

Liz poked at the seemingly repaired shield as she answered for them. "Yeah. Oz and I can see and sense things while Warren Shadow walks with 'em. Al~so~ my Tag is still on the shield but Oz raises a point." She dramatically raised a finger into the air as she exclaimed, "Whose Semblance trumps the others! Can you revert an object to a point where it will remove Oz's Tuning and/or my Tag?"

With a deadpan Warren asked, "Did you have to shout it like that?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

Ozwald chuckled darkly as he flipped the shield and opened a compartment on the back only for a shower of small pieces to fall out. "Well good thing I have five others and had an upgrade in the works."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Drones."

Warren's scroll dinged which prompted him to sit forward and open the device. CANA's projection appeared and turned to face Oz, "I might be able to help with that." Liseran cheered as she dashed over to the other girl and latched onto her. "Great! Then Fae can help me with a secondary weapon!"

The dark haired noble instantly blushed as she stated, "I may have...already given that some thought?"

The others all stared at her before Warren sighed. "Okay. So I am planning on rebuilding the entire carapace of the War Suit. I need to hit up the workshop at some point to repair the damaged pieces before I even think about making new pieces but yeah. I know Fae wants to increase the omph of her pistols. Oz now has to convert his shield into a drone-"

"-Not quite. It will still be a shield. Just upgrade the software so that it is a better turret. And you know. Eventually make it hover. So, more placement options."

Warren rolled his eyes as he continued, "And now you want a secondary weapon? I feel the need to point out that this is our second day attending Beacon. We've barely attended any classes and each of us are already planning huge modifications to weapons."

The room was filled with embarrassed laughter as each of the team members took stock of that statement. Finally Fae spoke as the voice of reason. "Live combat. They always say that a single day on the field is worth months of training. The exercise in the Emerald Forest pointed out some flaws to each of us. Things that we'll need to fix going forward or it will get us killed." The cheerful mood in the room instantly died. Warren's eyes were frigid as he sat and regarded Ozwald's destroyed weapon.

"Well that was a downer. So! Miss Invincible!" Fae gave a very unrefined groan to Liseran's joke as the other girl continued. "What's this idea?"

"I was thinking boots? Some kind of propulsion, bracing, and possibly alternate firing. The propulsion can help you move around and reposition for a better vantage point. Bracing for firing in odd positions, and if we use a decent size caliber for close range kick attacks…"

"I like it!"

* * *

AN: Well. Jayde is not completely incompetent. Part of the reason for that is so he doesn't come across as a 'Cardin Clone'. Also, displaying his Semblance which yes, I will explain it. Eventually.

Poor Ozwald. Good thing he has six shields so losing one isn't a catastrophe.

For those who noticed, yes Liz's secondary weapon is a lot like Mercury's leg-guns...things. The difference is that Liz's will not be as strong, nor will they turn into her primary method of fighting. The main purpose of them will be mobility, and a weak secondary shot to buy her time to fire the railgun. Or stab the thing with the trident. Either or.


	11. Chapter 11: Preperations

Chapter 11: Preparation

After their discussion Fae left to continue to work on her weapon. The rest of Team Wolf spent the rest of the afternoon in various workshops across the school. With Cana's help by they managed to create fully fleshed out blueprints for the conversion of one of Oz's shields into a drone, as well as plans for the construction of Liz's boots, Mark 1 versions. They would be little more than prototypes rather than a full execution. If they couldn't adapt to the new functionality then there was no point in trying to build something more in depth.

When they got back to their room they found Fae waiting for them. "I have good news!" Liseran instantly bounded over to the other girl as she squealed with excitement.

"Juicy gossip? Is it about Coco? Wait is this something the boys can hear?"

Warren rolled his eyes as he started to hunt for his nightwear while Ozwald just stared at his eccentric team member.

"No, nothing like that. We there is a Weapon Attachments and Modifications class!"

"...there is a class called WAM?"

Liz snickered at Oswald's joke while Fae frowned slightly before the noble continued. "More importantly the class has a teacher. Students from any year can attend the optional evening class and get help from a professional huntsman!"

The other three turned thoughtful at that. A professional huntsmen would have a lot more experience with experimental functions in weapons, his help could be downright invaluable to get the modifications done as soon as possible.

"Optional evening classes?"

Oz rolled his eyes as he went over to his desk and grabbed the paper he read earlier. "First year students have a rotating schedule. Grimm Studies, Combat Class, History of Remnant, Mathematics, Basic Physics and Chemistry, and Literature. There are open evening classes available to all years including; Advanced Sparring, Mock Team Operations, Weapon Attachments and Modifications Class, Survival Training, Historical Tactics and Applications, Psychology, and last but not least Grimm Theory. For more details and classes available to specific years visit the course enrolment counter in the library. For more information about Blah, blah, blah, not important. Anyways, I know the upperclassmen have a larger selection of classes including medical training, and piloting lessons."

Fae picked up her own copy of the paper and added, "Classes are paired and cycle each day. Outside of special circumstances there will be six days of class with every seventh day off."

"Special circumstances? Sounds interesting, what would count though?"

"Hm. Well I would imagine the Vytal Festival for one, as well as any field trips and the like." Liseran appeared satisfied at Fae's response as she continued, "Now as far as WAM goes-"

Pointedly looking away, she ignored the wide grin on Oswald's face when she used his acronym, "If we start from scratch, or in Oswald's case with his broken shield, starting from scrap..."

She smiled sweetly at the now frowning boy. "What is the soonest each of us think our first iteration in weapon improvements will be finished? Another day, two max should be all that I need to work the new parts into the Six Slicers."

"For the boots? Bit less than a week, then various tune ups for a month or so to get it 'right'."

"Drones? With Cana's help, I'd imagine four-five days tops. As far as hovering capabilities, no clue. I've never built a hover device."

"Repairs should be done by tomorrow. Timberwolf still has yet to get back to me on the material but generally a new carapace would take about two months."

The others turned to Warren in surprise. His mood visibly plummeted as he explained. "I don't fully understand the War Suit. I doubt I ever will. CANA knows everything about it but she has block that prevents her from disclosing how the aura conversion works. She has sealed off run-times, but she can't access unless specific conditions are met, like if it needs repairs. Even then the runtimes activates a lock-out that prevents most of her other processes from functioning."

"To clarify-" Warren rolled his eyes as he produced his scroll and set it down next to him. CANA's project appeared and addressed the team. "Warren's access to make modifications and authorize overrides is restricted. It is set so that when he turned 21 he will be automatically promoted to full permissions. This could be modified to be an earlier date, but only Dr. Remus Marune or Mrs. Lupa Argent-Marune had access to change-"

"HOLD THE PHONE!" Scrambling and shouting, Liz all but fell from her chair as she lunged closer to the scroll. "Your mom is the 'Silver Wolf'? The short silver haired wolf Faunus who graduated from Beacon?"

At that Fae's eyes went wide while Liseran continued, "My dad knew your mom! They went to Beacon together! Not part of the same team mind you, but still!" Ozwald laughed as he commented lightly, "Small world, huh?"

"It keeps getting smaller." The others glanced over to Faerien at her quiet response. "I actually...met your mother Warren." Warren was speechless as he stared at Fae. "Short, about 5'2"? My mother told me she was named Argent after her silver hair. A wolf Faunus whom wielded retractable claws, and her semblance was called, 'Shadows of the Pack', correct?"

Seeing as how Warren was still stunned to silence, CANA answered for him. "That is correct. Lupa Argent-Marune. Formerly the leader of Beacon's Team LUNR(Lunar). Her semblance allowed her to reside in an ally's shadow, adding her strength to theirs and enhancing their reflexes. Or she could allow her allies into her shadow, and add their strength to hers. She was reportedly able to 'carry' her entire team her ability hence the 'pack' naming."

"Reportedly?"

"I never bore witness to her using her semblance with more than one person."

Fae shook her head as she continued. "She was friends with my mom. I never knew she was married or had a child. I remember calling her-" her face flushed suddenly as she was caught up in the memory, "Um- I m-may have uh-well…"

Giggling Liseran moved over to her stuttering team mate and slung her arm across her shoulders, "What'd you say~? Come on, Miss Perfect Memory, let's hear it."

"P-pretty silver wolf lady."

Warren looked at her oddly while still mostly in a daze while Oswald facepalmed. "Seriously?"

"I was 7 okay! It was late, Mother was telling me a story and she popped up out of nowhere! I pointed to her and asked, 'Mother, who's the pretty silver wolf lady?' She said Mother raised me well, then they talked about how someone named Remus' work was faring poorly and how Lupa would be leaving Vale shortly. I get it now that they were talking about your father and the War Suit but cut me some slack, I only met her the one time! I didn't learn about her being a huntress and what her semblance was until later!"

"In any case..." Cana spoke up once more. "Back to the subject on hand, I cannot divulge the details the make the War Suit function. Warren does not yet have the authority to override that block so I am unable to teach him how to create a new suit or make any modifications that directly correlate with the aura conversion systems."

"That has got to be frustrating."

Warren started to shrug when the motion was interrupted with a yawn. His blinked his eyes in surprise as he checked the time. "Huh. I think we should turn in for the night if we want to make tomorrow's classes."

Fae agreed readily but Ozwald left quoting, "I need to unwind." Liz followed him out as the two remaining members of the team prepared for bed.

-x-x-x-x-

"So...why'd you decide to follow me?"

"Felt like it."

Ozwald cast the sniper a sideways glance before he shook his head and looked back to the night sky. The fractured moon hung high in the night sky, full and bright.

"Any particular reason why?"

"I got the hots for you and am looking for an inconspicuous bush to drag you into." Her deadpan tone was at complete odds with what she said, leaving Ozwald confused as he stopped and faced her. Even for a joke her tone sounded...off.

"Uh, gonna ignore what you said and focus on how you said it. You okay?"

Liz looked away as her posture changed. She almost seemed to...withdraw as she avoided looking at him. Instead of answering she asked, "How'd you discover your semblance?"

Um...what? Pausing his walk he turned and faced his teammate, confusion evident on his features.

"For me, it was incredibly...terrifying. In addition to being able to see tags through other objects I can...for lack of better words, 'filter out' everything except for the selected tags. Or I can leave everything visible and see the tags even through solid objects."

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she shivered. "It happened while I was in school. I'd just turned seven and it hadn't even been a year since I started living with my uncle's family. I got up to cross the room for...something, I don't even remember what anymore. Everything just...disappeared. I couldn't see anything at all, I thought I was suddenly stuck blind. I tripped and fell, and a wash of color spread across the ground. I know now that I effectively tried to Tag the ground but back then I freaked out. It didn't help that it was too large to Tag and I got a splitting headache because of it."

"That...gods that sounds awful." Laughing hollowly she tried to smile in response but it was bitter. "I screamed and cried. Called out for my parents, momentarily forgetting that they were dead. I could hear my classmates and the teacher, but I had no clue where they were or what was going on. My uncle was in the building, I forget why. They called him to the room and he scooped me up and suddenly I could see someone again." Her face softened. "I was so terrified. I refused to let go for anything. What if I stopped being able to see him? Would I be able to see anything normally ever again?"

She sat on a bench and looked to the moon as her iris started to cycle through various colors. "What happened?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Eventually my aunt arrived and when she came in contact with me, I was able to see her. So I was passed to her and she was the one who noticed my eyes were changing colors. My uncle was more concerned with trying to calm me down so he hadn't noticed. She asked a few questions and started handing me things. I wasn't able to control the tagging so everything I touched was being dyed a random array of colors. Someone guessed, that it was my Semblance. Eventually I was able to see normally again and started learning how to control it."

Quietly, Ozwald absorbed what she said. She shifted on the bench and patted the spot, so he took the invitation and sat down. Eventually he asked, "Why are you telling me this? Why not our whole team or at least our leader?"

Silently she stared at the moon for awhile before she finally asked him, "What do you believe about semblances? That you are shaped by it, or that who you are shapes your personality?"

"I personally think it is determined by us. Like, who we are, what we want and the the situation in which it first awakens."

Nodding along with his words, Liz then interjected, "Now what does that say about Warren?"

[What?] Seeing his owlish look, she continued. "I agree with you. I think my semblance comes from me...not wanting to lose anything. I lost so much when I moved in with my extended family. Don't get me wrong, I love them dearly but my whole life was turned upside down. I didn't know anyone, I didn't know where anything was. I was always getting lost and I hated it. My parents were gone, and I left my friends behind."

She shivered as she asked him. "If my semblance was born from that feeling...of not wanting to lose anything and it granted me the ability to always see it. Then what caused Warren to develop his? Nothing can touch him while he is in the shadows. No living can go with him. Completely invisible, with no sign of him moving from shadow to shadow." Chills ran down his spine as he thought about it. Her voice snapped him out of it as she continued to muse

"I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Or maybe we are wrong and our Semblance is determined at birth and who we are has nothing to do with it. That would certainly explain why some people have so much trouble finding their Semblance." She stood and sighed. "Anyways. I just wanted to get that out of my system. Thanks for listening Oz." She waved goodbye as she turned and headed back to the dorm. He waved back and once she was out of sight, he checked his scroll. Pushing the conversation they just held to the back of his mind he hurried off. After a few minutes he reached the CCT tower and headed for one of the benches on the northern end. He checked his scroll again and mused to himself, "Right place, bit late though. So...where is she?"

"Over here."

Ozwald turned around and looked above him. In the tree behind the bench, Aqua sat on one of the lower branches. She smiled brightly and swung herself down as Oz tried to bring his heart rate down to normal levels.

[Jeez, just calm down. Be cool, relax. Remember, SHE was the one who asked to meet YOU here, so chill.] Casually as he could he asked, "So...you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah. I wanted to apologize to Warren. I kinda told my team about what happened between him and Coco. I didn't know that Ube likes to gossip so before I knew it, the whole school knew. I was wondering if Warren is, er...calm enough? To accept my apology?"

"He's calmer about it. He already talked to Coco as well, so it should be fine. Just be honest with him. Even if he gets upset at first, later on he'll appreciate the honesty." Nodding slightly she started to fiddle with her hair as the silence stretched between them.

Shifting his weight from foot to foot he asked, "Sooooo...Is that the only thing you wanted to talk about?"

"No!" It was hard to say who was more startled by her sharp response, him or her. "I mean I didn't really have anything else in mind. I was kind of freaking out about what to say to Warren. Should I wait? Will making make it worse? How should I word it? That kind of thing."

Ozwald feels his pulse start to tap-dance as tries to be suave and replies with, "That almost sounds like a convenient excuse you used just so you could talk with me." He flashes her a winning smile as she just stares at him with her jaw hanging open.

His smile starts to falter as he thinks [Uh...I don't think that came out right...]

Sweating bullets his panic levels rise when she bursts out laughing. Barely managing to speak through the laughter she asks, "Was that supposed to be smooth?" He blushes and mumbles incoherently as she covers her mouth in an attempt to muffle her giggles.

"It sounded so much better in my head..."

With an unrepentant grin she finally relaxed enough to stop fidgeting as she asked, "Well as for the one of the other things I wanted to ask you about. Coco mentioned your team found a solution to changing in the same room as your uh, co-ed team?"

Ozwald groaned. Of course Coco was responsible for getting her to ask him about changing clothes in front of the opposite gender, "Not really? We talked it over and brought up so good points. For one we need to trust each other if we are going to survive as huntsmen. If we can't even change clothes in front of one another, how can we trust them in live combat? Then we brought up first aid and potential awkward wound placement. It'd suck to bleed out if someone was to squeamish about undressing someone to treat a wound."

"That makes way to much sense. Wait, so how is that not a solution?"

"Cause we can't force trust. Sure we should reach that point eventually but that doesn't mean we already fully trust each other. Sure my team voted and agreed but Fae is very shy about it still so not really solved."

"Really? Isn't she like a princess or something? With an army of maids to help her dress and what not?"

That surprised him. [Is that the image people have of her?] In reply he deadpanned, "Does she seem like the type of girl who has everyone else take care of her?"

"Hmmm not really. But I don't know any of you too well yet."

"All the more reason to get to know one another better."

Surprise fluttered across both their faces as Ozwald tried to stutter his way to an explanation. "I er- t-that is to say, words? Words. U-um..."

-x-x-x-x-

"All the more reason to get to know one another better."

She froze as she felt a blush rise to her cheeks. [Oum help me, that sounds like a bad pickup line! So why is it so damned effective!?]

Taking a deep breath to steady her already racing pulse she brushed a loose strand of hair back as he stuttered and tripped over his own tongue. After she took a deep breath to settle her nerves replied as calmly as she was currently capable. "While I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that was NOT meant as 'pick-up-artist' as it came across..." pausing as he nodded vigorously, no doubt not trusting himself to speak.

"I understand the intent and agree wholeheartedly." She smiled as she felt her blush return. [Oum I'm going to regret this latter~]

"Besides, while it may be too early to know for certain...but I don't think I would-"

*DONG DING-DONG*

-x-x-x-x-

"Besides it may be too early to know for certain..."

[Know for certain? Know what for certain? Is she about to confess? Does she like me? Did I really make that good of an impression?]

"...but I don't think I would-"

*DONG DING-DONG*

The two of them jumped and reached for where their weapons would be...if they had them. As they looked up to the CCT tower nearby as it continued to chime loudly. Ozwald glanced back at her and saw that she had already checked her scroll.

"Midnight. Looks like I need to head back."

"So the princess must depart before the last toil of the midnight hour?"

[What. The. HELL!? Where are these lines coming from?] Burying his mortification as she replied with amused smile.

"So I am Cinderella now? You'll have to excuse me, I don't particularly feel like leaving one shoe behind."

"But then however shall I scour the kingdom in search of you?"

She turned away laughing, "Casting yourself as prince charming, already hopeless smitten?" Shaking her head she waved goodbye as she walked away, completely missing the expression on his face.

[Am I? I mean she's funny. We get along pretty well. She is strong enough to be a huntress. Not to mention she's smart and charismatic enough to be the leader of her team. Absolutely gorgeous to boot...I mean, just WOW, I can just get lost in her eyes...]

A moment passed as he fully processed his own thoughts before he groaned. [Oh gods I am falling for her aren't I?]

-x-x-x-x-

The days passed quickly as the new students rapidly adapted to the school's schedule. As for Team WOLF everyone's upgrades were progressing nicely.

Warren finished his repairs and with Timberwolf's recommendations started smelting an alternate alloy and replaced the material the made up his gauntlets. He was steadily replacing the rest of his suit but so far those were the only 'combat ready' components. Considering how he often only used the gauntlets while he made adjustments, it wasn't too much of a big deal.

Ozwald managed to repair his broken shield and implement an anti-gravity repulsor in it, but so far it was the only one as tuning it took much longer than any of them expected.

Liseran's new combat boots progressed faster than anyone expected. Using the blueprint's from the War Suit, they managed to put together a pair of lightweight boots that Liz integrated into her fighting style with surprising ease.

Fae's pistol packed a much greater punch and she ended up enlarging the blades of the hatchets to keep the weapons balanced. The upgrades came at the cost of extra weight causing Faerien's free time to end up focusing more on strength and endurance training to handle the heavier weapons.

Their progress was greatly assisted by the various teachers in the WAM course. Each day it rotated who was in charge of the workroom. As they adapted to the new life at Beacon, Liz's earlier words to Warren was quickly proved true. All huntsmen were weird. The various students learned about each teacher's...unique approach. Professor Goodwitch was incredibly strict but she was never harsh. Her judgment were accurate, and any time a student incurred her wrath, their punishment was appropriately fair. Her classes almost always included individual spars. She would often use her telekinesis to manipulate a mannequin to show case specific actions or to make a point to a student on what they did incorrectly.

Needless to say her class was the first to throw a curveball. After a few weeks at Beacon, the Professor made an announcement.

"Alright students. Today marks a change to the regular sparring sessions. Starting today, spars will be performed as pairs. Teams will be selected at random, and each team will nominate two members for the first match. The second match will consist of the unchosen members. After that another pair of teams will be chosen until we run out of time. I do hope that in your free time all of you have been devoting some time to team building exercises." Casting her eyes about the room she saw a disappointing amount of uncomfortable teams. A few more than usual seemed eager for team activities.

"Additionally as we progress through the following weeks the matches will escalate into full team matches. On the last day of this month, normal classes will be suspended for the first years' very first multi-team assignment."

The news had everyone's undivided attention. Sparing in pairs? Team matches? This class was already one of the more exciting ones and now an assignment that needed multiple teams.

Liseran was practically vibrating with excitement, something the strict teacher took note of as allowed herself a small smile and adjusted her glasses.

"The four team capture the flag free-for-all."

Capture the flag?

"More information will be provided as we draw closer to the class but for now..."

She input a few commands on her tablet as she crossed the room. On the screen above the stage the names WOLF & CFVY appeared.

"Teams WOLF and CFVY, please select two representatives for the first match."

The teams exchanged a large variety of looks, ranging from apprehension and casual interest, to barely contained excitement. Warren looked over at his teammates and said, "Well I'm pretty sure if we make Liz wait, she'll explode."

The bubbly girl beamed with pride as she leapt to her feet and ran for the changing room. "Alright, one down. Do either of you-"

"If it is not too much of an inconvenience..."

Ozwald groaned as he gestured for Faerien to go ahead. "Seriously Fae. That's twice today you've been overly formal. You know the rules. Once more and it's _M'lady_ for the rest of the day."

Fae stood quickly, "R-right. I'm s-" Warren raised an eyebrow as he glanced over.

"-er, I'm departing. Wish me luck."

She hurried to the changing room as Warren looked over to Team CFVY. Coco seemed frozen in place as he realized they selected Yatsu and Fox. [Looks like Oz and I and going against Coco and Velvet. Well. This'll be...interesting.]

-x-x-x-x-

Before long the two pairs stood in the ring facing each other. This would also mark the first time the rest of the class would see Liseran's new combat boots. Warren and Fae weren't able to hide the changes to their equipment but Ozwald and Liseran had held back on using theirs before non-teammates.

They had a few ideas on how to throw their opponents off their game...but they also had a few techniques they could try and use against them. The real question was, would they have the chance to actually pull off their coordinated attacks.

Glynda activated the barrier around the ring, cutting them off from the rest of the class. She didn't activate it for every match, but certain students (like Liseran) had the barrier active for every fight they were involved in.

The fighters' aura bars popped up on the screen above their heads for the rest of the class to observe. "We'll follow the standard rule set. Drop your opponent's aura to red or ring out. Victory is obtained by eliminating both opponents, time is set for 15 minutes before a draw is declared. Are you ready?"

Both teams nodded, the girls held their weapons ready in their gun modes as the boys readied their single form weapons.

"Begin!"


End file.
